
1 ■;■'■;•• ■■ , 



Father Abraham in his Study. 






•§ 



fej 







ll 



THE Shade of Him who Cour.fel can beftow, 
Still plea^'d to teach,' and yet not proud to know 
Unbias'd or by Favour or by Spite ; . ..- 

Nor dully prepoftef'.'d, nor blindly right; 
Tho learn'd, well-bred ; and, tho well-bred, fincere 
Modeilly bold, and humanely fevere j . 
Who to a Friend" his Faults can fweetly /how, 
And gladly praife the Merit of a Foe. 
Here> .there .he fits,, his cheerful -AM to-lersd j 
A firm, anfhaken, uncomtpted Friend, 
Averfe alike to flatter or offend. 



Printed by Benjamin . Mecora, at the New |f j 

Printing-Office, (near the Town-House, in Bofton) where Jy | 
BOOKS are Sold, and PRINTING-WORK dene, Cheap. g 



Title-page of Father Abraham's Advice, Boston, 1760; 
copy in Boston Public Library. 



from 






Heralds of American 
Literature 



A GROUP OF PATRIOT WRITERS OF THE 
REVOLUTIONARY AND NATIONAL PERIODS 



ANNIE RUSSELL MARBLE, M.A. 



Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 

London: T. Fishez Unwin, I Adelpfy Terrace 

1907 



^ 



jUBRARY #f CONGRESS] 

Two Copies Recti «ad 

NOV 25 -r 907 

Copyright Entry 

Ave* <W 

CLASS A XXc. «o.| 

COPY 1 B, 



Copyright 1907 By 
The University of Chicago 



Published November 1907 



Composed and Printed By 

The University of Chicago Press 

Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A. 



PREFACE 

Each decade calls forth a more detailed study 
of the beginnings of American history. The 
lives of our pioneer soldiers and statesmen have 
been narrated in many volumes. On the other 
hand, the writers who prophesied, and sought to 
promote, a national literature during the early 
days of American independence have not been so 
generally studied, except in groups. Moses Coit 
Tyler individualized scores of Colonial and Revo- 
lutionary versifiers and satirists, but the self- 
imposed limits of his theme prevented him from 
completing the later services of some of these 
writers, after the Revolution. He did not live 
to accomplish a similar work in biography for the 
patriot-writers of the National period in which 
American government, industry, and education 
were slowly established. The aim of this book 
is to recount, in detailed study and largely from 
original sources, the lives and services of a group 
of typical writers during the pioneer days of 
national growth, who revealed the standards and 
aspirations of their time and who announced the 
dawn of a national literature, although their own 
products were often immature and crude. 

In my researches, which have extended over 
many years, I have had valuable assistance from 



vi PREFACE 

librarians at Harvard, Yale, Brown, and Prince- 
ton Universities, the Library of Congress, the 
Lenox Library of New York, the Athenaeum and 
Public Library of Boston, the American Anti- 
quarian Society and Public Library at Worcester, 
and Pequot Library at Southport, Connecticut. 
I would also acknowledge indebtedness to the 
Historical Societies of New York, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. 
For editorial suggestions I am grateful to members 
of the faculty of the University of Chicago. De- 
scendants of some of these early writers, and 
many individuals, have given me generous interest 
and co-operation. Four of the chapters, in 
abbreviated form, have been printed in the New 
England Magazine, and one in the Critic. Thanks 
are due the editors of these journals for per- 
mission to reprint. 

A. R. M. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

i. Frontispiece : Father Abraham In His Study. From y 
a copy of Franklin's "Father Abraham's Advice," 1760, 
in Boston Public Library. 

2. Francis Hopkinson. From a painting by R. Pine, 
1785, engraved by J. B. Longacre; facing page 19. 

3. Francis Hopkinson's "Battle of The Kegs/' From 
an early broadside in American Antiquarian Society 
Library; facing page 41. 

4. Philip Freneau. From a print, long owned by Dr. 
Emmett, made from crayon sketch; facing page 61. 

5. John Trumbull. From a painting by the artist, / 
John Trumbull, 1793; facing page 107. 

6. Title-Page of "M'Fingal," first edition, Philadel- 
phia, 1775. From copy in Watkinson Library, Hart- 
ford; facing page 130. 

7. Title-Page of "The Echo," New York, 1807; facing 
page 161. 

8. Joseph Dennie. From a portrait long owned by the 
family, possibly painted by Charles W. Peale; facing 
page 193. 

9. Title-Page of "The Lay Preacher," first edition, 
1796. From copy in American Antiquarian Society 
Library; facing page 228. 

10. Title-Page of William Dunlap's Play, "Andre," 
1798; facing page 255. 

11. Charles Brockden Brown. From a miniature painted 
by William Dunlap, 1806, engraved by J. B. Forrest; 
facing page 279. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Introductory: Signs of the Dawn — The 

Impulse of Franklin 2 

II. Francis Hopkinson 19 

III. Philip Freneau: America's First Poet . 61 

IV. John Trumbull: Satirist and Scholar . 107 
V. A Group of Hartford Wits . . -149 

VI. Joseph Dennie: "The Lay Preacher" . 193 

VII. William Dunlap: The Beginnings of Drama 235 

VIII. Charles Brockden Brown . . . .279 

Bibliography 319 

j ndex 355 



INTRODUCTORY : SIGNS OF THE DAWN 
—THE IMPULSE OF FRANKLIN 



I 

INTRODUCTORY : SIGNS OF THE DAWN 
—THE IMPULSE OF FRANKLIN 

The strong impulses of every epoch in a 
nation's life are impressed upon the pages of 
contemporary literature. The awakening, on 
the part of the American colonists, of a spirit of 
remonstrance against English misrule, the drift 
of sentiment toward independence, and the slow, 
toilsome victory in war and establishment of a 
republic, were expressions of a vital period in the 
world's history. The motives behind the events 
were prophesied and narrated by the writers of 
this age of transition, who lived amid its scenes. 
In literary style their work does not rank high; 
but their services to America, in her political 
agitations and her initial progress in arts and edu- 
cation, deserve some attention beyond the usual 
"honorable mention." 

Research among the unfamiliar writings by 
American patriots of the past has compensation 
for much which baffles and disappoints. Within 
their lives were heroic deeds and blighting fail- 
ures, and the varied incidents form an interesting 
record. They portrayed the customs and stand- 
ards of their own time, in industry, society, and 

3 



4 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

morals, with a realism and faithfulness which 
cannot be fully reproduced. The bulk of what is 
called American literature, from 1765 to 181 5, 
was immature and crude, according to the rules 
of criticism, but within it are suggestions of 
nature-study, poetry, and romance, against a 
background of native scenery. Later authors 
wove these elements into effective fabrics. 

For many years the question has been dis- 
cussed: Has America a literature of her own; 
and, if so, when did it begin? Only within recent 
times would one venture to affirm the independent 
existence of such a literature. The specious argu- 
ment, that everything written in the English 
language belongs to English literature exclusively, 
has been nullified. We identify patriots today 
by the spirit, not by the letter, of their writings. 

American nationality was evolved and estab- 
lished between 1765 and 181 5. The inherent 
aims of the new nation were gradually dissociated 
from those of England, and the divorce was 
recognized for many decades. During the latter 
part of the nineteenth century the true racial 
bonds have again been openly emphasized. Why 
should the writings of this formative era of 
American federation, the direct impressions and 
records of the dawning national spirit, be still dis- 
counted as American literature? The themes of 
these early writers were localized, and their 



INTRODUCTION 5 

vision was often distorted; yet a unity of pur- 
pose distinguished their prose and crude verse 
from the products of the British colonists in 
America prior to 1765. The dominant quality 
of the later writings was that rugged sincerity 
which is "the essence of originality," as Carlyle 
has declared. 

Colonial verse showed a marked advance from 
the mawkish couplets of Wigglesworth and 
grotesque musings of Mistress Anne Bradstreet, 
to the ballads and lyrics of Dr. Benjamin 
Prime and William Livingstone, which were 
popular during the last half of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. In prose also there was progress in liter- 
ary form, which is seen by comparing the labored 
pages of the early annalists and preachers with 
the compulsive logic of Jonathan Edwards, the 
Journal of John Woolman, and the varied writ- 
ings of Benjamin Franklin. 

As statesman, as ingenious scientist, and as 
writer of pure, strong English, Franklin has 
gained a world-wide recognition for which it is 
not necessary to argue. He was a representa- 
tive of the highest Colonial development along 
industrial and educational paths. His style was 
confessedly modeled after that of the best Eng- 
lish essayists, and it was disturbed by no uncouth 
efforts to seem "American." At the same time, 
perhaps unconsciously, Franklin introduced notes 



6 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

of democracy and Americanism into his epigrams 
and treatises, long before the ideas or the words 
had come into vogue, and while the colonists in 
America were loyal and contented subjects of 
Great Britain. 

One of the people by birth and hard-won suc- 
cess, Franklin wrote for the common people, not 
for the aristocracy or the lettered. His Alma- 
nacks, and his counsels by Father Abraham and 
Poor Richard appealed to the mind and ambition 
of the populace. In his later life, famous as 
scientist, diplomat, and wit, he was in favor with 
the elite of Europe; but in his early manhood, 
and in most of his writings, he was democratic 
in thought and associations. He familiarized the 
common people with the wit and wisdom of the 
English essayists whom he admired. He believed 
that he could increase the thrift and industry of 
the masses, even as he could lighten their drudg- 
ery, by pungent sentences which would be easily 
acquired and quoted. His activities and his writ- 
ings were utilitarian in aim. He advised the indi- 
vidual to increase his material resources, but also 
to broaden and sweeten his mind by contact with 
good literature of practical value. 1 His pages 

1 Of the 748 titles and editions enumerated by Paul 
Leicester Ford in his Bibliography of Franklin (Brooklyn, 
1889), nearly all indicate the immediate effects intended by 
his writings on politics, science, and education. 



INTRODUCTION 7 

were always readable, from the youthful Dogood 
Papers, which he persistently thrust under the 
door of the newspaper office for six months until 
they were published, to the Bagatelles and Auto- 
biography written in old age. The message is 
always practical, timely, and clear. 

In the library of the Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania is a rare pamphlet, containing Franklin's 
Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in 
Pensilvania. 2 This paper, written more than a 
century and a half ago, stimulated the citizens of 
Philadelphia to establish an academy where the 
youth of the state "might receive the accomplish- 
ments of a regular education." It affords a 
perfect example of the practical aim and pure 
English which marked Franklin as an author. 
With liberal quotations from Latin and English 
essayists and poets — Cato, Milton, Locke, Addi- 
son, and Pope — with specific advice regarding the 
branches which should be taught, he closed the 
essay with this self -revelatory paragraph : 

With the whole, should be constantly inculcated and 
cultivated that Benignity of MIND which shows itself 
in searching for and seizing every Opportunity to serve and 
to oblige; and is the Foundation of what is called GOOD 
BREEDING; — Ability to serve Mankind, one's Country, 
Friends and Family; which Ability is (with the Blessing 
of God) to be acquired or greatly increased by true 

2 Philadelphia, 1749; 32 pages and many footnotes. 



8 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Learning; and should indeed be the great Aim and End 
of all Learning. 

Franklin did good service, during the Revo- 
lutionary period, by satiric and logical writings; 
but he gained his renown among his contempo- 
raries, and is still remembered, as the foster-father 
of commercial thrift and literary impulse among 
the colonists. He was active in founding the 
Library Company of Philadelphia and the Ameri- 
can Philosophical Society; he organized literary 
clubs and edited magazines. His travels and 
studies had broadened him, and given a demo- 
cratic trend to his thoughts; yet he was loyal 
to British rule until his ideas of justice were too 
violently assailed. Retaining that serenity of 
outlook which he always urged, he became a wise 
supporter of American freedom, and wrote state 
papers and political essays in the same lucid, 
graceful style which had already won him a place 
among English authors. 

The half-century from 1765 to 181 5, which 
witnessed the birth of the new nation and its first 
literary expressions, may be divided into three 
periods, of unequal length, but of the same rela- 
tive importance. There were, first, the years from 
occasional remonstrance against English taxa- 
tion to open secession; second, those from the 
Declaration of Independence to the end of the 
Revolution; third, those from 1782 to 1815, 



INTRODUCTION 9 

covering the formation of government, and its 
assurance of life after the victories and treaty 
of the War of 1812. The prose and verse of the 
first two periods both incited and recorded the 
bitter feud between two countries whose bonds 
had been closely welded and were soon to be 
broken. The writers of the third, or construc- 
tive, period were less bitter, but still intense in 
their zeal to crush internal anarchy and to estab- 
lish a prosperous, as well as a free, nation. 

The earlier writings reveal fervid emotion and 
strong argumentation; the later are more re- 
strained in spirit, but the style is often crude and 
bombastic. The beginnings of aesthetic culture in 
the later Colonial decades seemed to have suffered 
a serious interruption. The verse of the Revo- 
lution was inspired by no devotion to the fine 
arts, but rather was a virile weapon for the ridi- 
cule of enemies and the encouragement of soldiers 
in the wearisome conflict. In the martial odes 
and satires by Philip Freneau, John Trumbull, 
Timothy Dwight, and Benjamin Prime there were 
occasional lyric yearnings; but they awakened 
meager response. The prose of the same period, 
including the early stages of the war, consisted 
of formal correspondence between Tory and 
Patriot leaders; heavy yet earnest state papers, 
like Stephen Hopkins' Rights of the Colonies, 
and Samuel Adams' Appeal to the World; and 



IO HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

orations from rostrum and pulpit, by statesmen 
like Otis, Hancock, and Patrick Henry, and 
preachers like Mayhew, Chauncy, and Duffield. 

As the focal point of defiance was in Boston 
and vicinity, with open sympathy from Virginia 
and Pennsylvania, the most typical literary re- 
monstrances came from those colonies. From 
Pennsylvania, in addition to Franklin's familiar 
pamphlets, 3 there issued another series of argu- 
ments that were widely read and quoted, Letters 
from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabit- 
ants of the British Colonies. 4 " The author of 
these Letters, John Dickinson, was strong in argu- 
mentation; he possessed also some literary grace. 
His astute mind thus framed the imminent prob- 
lem of rightful taxes : 

Upon the whole, the simple question is whether the 
parliament can legally impose duties to be paid by the 
people of these colonies only, FOR THE SOLE PUR- 
POSE OF RAISING A REVENUE, on commodities 
which she obliges us to take from her alone, or, in other 
words, whether the parliament can legally take money out 
of our pockets, without our consent. If they can, our 
boasted liberty is but "Vox et preterea nihil." 5 

3 "The Causes of American Discontents" and "The Rise 
and Progress of the Differences between Great Britain and 
her American Colonies," in Bigelow's The Complete Works 
of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. IV, pp. 97-1 11 ; Vol. V, pp. 323-38. 

4 Boston, Philadelphia, and London, 1768. 

6 Letters from a Farmer, etc., Letter II, p. 14. 



INTRODUCTION n 

One minor incident of the years which pre- 
ceded the war loomed large and ominous on the 
literary horizon — the defiant refusal to use the 
taxed tea. This was really symbolic of the prin- 
ciples involved in the later struggle; and so the 
prose logic contended. The verse on the theme 
was in forms of caustic parodies, sneering odes, 
and mock-heroics. 6 They shared in popularity 
with the Liberty Songs, especially that by John 
Dickinson, written in 1768, which was parodied 
by the Tories, and the parody, in turn, was re- 
parodied by the Patriots ; the three versions were 
sung to the stirring melody of "Hearts of Oak." 
The opening stanza of Dickinson's ode reads 
thus: 

Come, join hand and hand, brave Americans all, 
Awake through the land at fair Liberty's call; 
No tyrannous acts shall suppress our just claim, 
Or stain with dishonour America's name. 
In freedom we're born, 
In freedom we'll live : 
Our purses are ready; 
Steady, friends, steady ; 
Not as slaves but as freemen our money we'll give. 7 

6 In his Songs and Ballads of the Revolution (New York, 
1856), Frank Moore has collected many of these droll 
"Ballads of Taxes and Tea." 

7 This song was first printed anonymously in the Boston 
Gazette and Country Journal, July 18, 1768. It may be 
found, with the parodies, in Frank Moore's Songs and Bal- 
lads of the Revolution (New York, 1856) ; pp. 36-47. 



12 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

While the first period was one of political 
debate and mental indecision, the second period 
reflected vigorous action. Many of the pamphlets 
and verses called forth answering sneers and pleas 
from Loyalist wits. There was a tone of invec- 
tive in the writings of the Whigs, not alone 
toward the English king, prime minister, and 
Parliament, but also against many honest Tories, 
whose noble characters have been honored by 
later generations, but whose scruples were scath- 
ingly denounced by their political opponents. 

The Declaration of Independence was a signal 
for unbridled joy among the odists. Each futile 
scheme, and each defeat of the English leaders, 
gave occasion for satires by Freneau and Trum- 
bull, or for a lampoon by Hopkinson. Versifiers 
composed rude, simple songs to cheer the Patriot 
army, like the variations of "Yankee Doodle ;" or 
such fervent odes and hymns, sung in camps and 
churches, as "Columbia" by Timothy Dwight, 
"The American Hero" by Nathaniel Niles, and 
"Chester" by William Billings. Mistress Mercy 
Warren and Hugh Henry Brackenridge sum- 
moned a halting talent to dramatize The Battle of 
Bunker's Hill or to ridicule The Group of Loyal- 
ists in Boston who fawned upon Lord North and 
Governor Thomas Hutchinson, of Massachusetts. 8 

8 The Battle of Bunker's Hill: By a Gentleman of Mary- 
land (Philadelphia, 1776) ; The Group (Boston, 1775). 



INTRODUCTION 13 

When the war was ended, the literature was 
exultant and braggart for a few months. This 
tone was soon succeeded by one of anxiety; for 
many dangers threatened the new nation. Among 
the problems to be solved were these : how to raise 
money to pay the soldiers and meet the demands 
of the treaties ; how to secure financial and indus- 
trial confidence with depreciated paper money and 
stagnant business; how to prevent recurrence of 
riots and menacing conventions of various classes 
in New England ; how to frame a constitution, in 
place of the old, futile federation of the colonies, 
which would be acceptable to the states them- 
selves; how to maintain the strong, personal 
leadership of a few men, without arousing fears 
of monarchical government. The force and logic 
in the spoken and written words of Jefferson, 
Hamilton, Fisher Ames, Patrick Henry, and 
Richard Henry Lee have given them rank among 
the leaders of the age both in thought and in 
diction. More crude, but also effective, were the 
lighter efforts in satire, ode, and counsel by Hop- 
kinson and Trumbull, Humphreys, Dwight, and 
Alsop. ^ 

Gradually the threatened disruption of the 
country was prevented ; in spite of vigorous oppo- 
sition, the Constitution was adopted, the Bank 
and Mint were established, treaties of commerce 
were effected, the pitfall of military alliance with 



14 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

France was circumvented, and the various ele- 
ments were converged into an embryonic repub- 
lic under Washington as president. The stages 
by which such union was brought out of seeming 
confusion, and the gradual growth of confidence 
in the new government among all classes, espe- 
cially after the naval victories of 1812-14, are re- 
vealed, with graphic impressions, in the prose and 
verse of the period. The establishment of indus- 
tries, and the attention to education, incited some 
of the writers of the time to extravagant prophe- 
cies and boastful expressions; but the leaders of 
the nation desired an interchange of ideas and 
literature with the broader schools of Europe. 

The war seemed to be a serious interruption to 
all literary activities, in the true meaning of the 
phrase. On the other hand, during the half- 
century of aesthetic barrenness and political fer- 
ment there was developed a new vital spirit, an 
aspiration of freedom and valor, destined to 
characterize American life and writings. The 
first verse and prose, after the war, were less 
refined than some of the imitative products of 
the later Colonial decades, but they had a deeper 
earnestness and an impressive assurance. A few 
of the authors considered in this book lived until 
1830 and after — Freneau, Trumbull, Dunlap, 
Theodore Dwight. They had personal acquaint- 
ance with Irving, Cooper, Bryant, and the minor 



INTRODUCTION 15 

authors who survived to witness and contribute 
to our recognized literature. The struggles 
and undaunted hopes of the group of earlier writ- 
ers encouraged those of the generation which fol- 
lowed to devote their lives to literature, art, and 
science. Irving, Cooper, Bryant, Emerson, Haw- 
thorne, felt the influence of these earlier impulses 
and were able to develop into mature artistic pro- 
ductions many of the seeds of promise which 
were germinating in the previous years of political 
stress. 

The writings of the Revolutionary and Na- 
tional periods were too abundant. Those which 
are valuable in tracing the political and literary 
history of America have been submerged amid 
the mass of ephemerides. To all the writings we 
apply the term "literature" — by courtesy. Moses 
Coit Tyler studied the authors of the Colonial 
and Revolutionary eras, with patient skill, in the 
work which remains as his monument. 9 In a 
survey of this dawning literature, we must con- 
fess that it was immature as well as sincere, that 
the crudities of form often hide the true merit. 
Out of the many, a few compositions have been 
remembered, among them the three national 
songs, "Yankee Doodle," "Hail Columbia," and 

8 History of American Literature, "The Colonial Period : 
1607-1765" (2 vols.; New York, 1879) ; The Literary History 
of the American Revolution: 1763-1783 (2 vols.; New York, 
1897). 



V 



i6 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

"The Star-Spangled Banner." Although the 
individual works of the writers of these two 
periods — of war and confederation — have been 
forgotten, and many of them deserve their ob- 
livion, yet they may fittingly be recalled by stu- 
dents of early American history and literature, 
who will thus emphasize their influence upon the 
progress of national life and culture. These 
scattered literary efforts, from the poignant 
satires and the first impulse of poetry to the weak, 
yet haunting, products of emotional drama and 
fiction, were the prophetic foregleams of our 
national literature. 

A 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON: JURIST, WIT, 
AND DILETTANTE 



* 




From a painting by R. Pine, 1785, engraved by J. B. Long- 
acre; reproduced from National Portrait Gallery 0} Distinguished 
Americans, 1835. 



1 



II 

FRANCIS HOPKINSON: JURIST, WIT, 
AND DILETTANTE 

The searchlight of modern investigation, 
turned upon American history, has clarified 
many events and placed a true value upon many 
personalities. A few characters have thus lost 
some of their traditional prestige, but others have 
won long-deferred honor. Prominent among the 
wits and pamphleteers of the Revolutionary dec- 
ades, and the years of crisis which immediately 
followed, was Francis Hopkinson. He was one of 
the signers of the Declaration of Independence, a 
noted judge, and a dilettante in music, painting, 
and verse-making. His efforts in art and litera- 
ture seem crude to modern students, yet they indi- 
cate great ingenuity and a sincere desire to help 
forward the progress of America in culture. In 
writing, he had a cleverness in characterization 
comparable with that of Swift and Congreve, and 
in satire he well imitated Addison and Pope. 
Underneath the dilettantism were the principles 
of a patriot and a reformer, and the yearnings of 
an artist. 

By inheritance he had a broad, penetrating 
mind and much nervous energy. His father, 

19 



20 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Thomas Hopkinson, who had been trained in law 
and science in London, came to Philadelphia 
about 1 73 1. Ten years later he succeeded Andrew 
Hamilton as judge of the Vice-Admiralty for 
Pennsylvania. His taste for science was recog- 
nized, and he became influential as a member of the 
American Philosophical Society, of which he was 
the first president. With Benjamin Franklin and 
Richard Peters, he brought into life the College 
of Philadelphia, where his son, Francis, was the 
first pupil enrolled upon the records, after the 
term "college" had been substituted for "acad- 
emy." In his letters and in conversations, Frank- 
lin paid tribute to the practical ingenuity of the 
elder Hopkinson in scientific experiments, men- 
tioning, especially, indebtedness to him for the 
suggestion of pointed, rather than blunted, instru- 
ments to attract the electric fluid — "the power of 
points to throw off electric fire." 1 

The taste for music, and skill in playing both 
harpsichord and organ, as well as the love for 
poetry, which characterized Francis Hopkinson, 
were legacies from his mother, a woman of great 
industry and endowed with charm of face and 
mind. When his father died, leaving a large 
family and a small income, Francis, the eldest 
child, was only fourteen years old. To his edu- 

1 The Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin (Bigelow), 
Vol. II, p. 2ii, note. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 2 J 

cation his mother devoted her personal efforts. 
Entering the College of Philadelphia at sixteen, 
he had some noted associates in that first class, 
graduated in 1757. Among them were Hugh 
Williamson, Jacob Duche, Paul Jackson, James 
Latta, and Samuel Magaw. Few men of his day- 
were more brilliant than Duche, who married a 
sister of Hopkinson. As rector of St. Peter's 
and Christ Church in Philadelphia, Duche won 
distinction as orator, but his career was blighted 
by weakness of will. 2 When the British army 
entered Philadelphia, he recanted his principles of 
freedom, and wrote to Washington urging him to 
renew allegiance to the crown. Later Duche 
escaped with Cornwallis to London, whence he 
sent to Washington a pitiful appeal for permis- 
sion to return to America. 3 

Choosing his father's profession as his own, 
Francis Hopkinson passed the years immediately 
after college in the law office of Benjamin Chew, 
the famous attorney-general of the Province of 

2 An original copy of Duche's first prayer as chaplain of 
the Continental Congress is in Independence Hall, Philadel- 
phia. John Adams wrote to his wife regarding the brilliancy 
and promise of Duche (Letters to His Wife [1841], Vol. I, 
pp. 23, 24). 

3 This letter and other correspondence upon the subject, 
including letters from Francis Hopkinson to Duche and 
Washington, have been edited and published by Worthington 
C. Ford (The Washington-Duche Letters, Brooklyn, 1890). 



22 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Pennsylvania. Hopkinson's first political experi- 
ence was as secretary of the conference between 
the governor and the Indians of the Lehigh Val- 
ley. As a youth he won some reputation by his 
rhymes, written in college and soon after. One 
of these early efforts at versifying was "per- 
formed at the College of Philadelphia" at the 
commencement exercises in 176 1. It was printed 
as "An Exercise Containing a Dialogue and Ode 
Sacred to the Memory of His Late Majesty 
George II." Hopkinson was accredited with 
both the words and music of the ode. 4 The same 
year he gave expression to his zeal for scientific 
advancement in a poem, "Science," which was 
also published. 5 

Evidence that Hopkinson, as a youth, was 
strong in his allegiance to England is given by a 
"Dissertation" which he wrote for the prize medal 

* Other early verses are to be found in manuscript in the 
library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Here are 
two sentimental reveries, "L' Allegro, Dedicated to Benjamin 
Chew," and "II Penseroso, Dedicated to Rev. Dr. Smith ;" 
also "An Elegy Sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Ann Graeme," 
dated Graeme Park, July, 1765. 

5 An interesting comment upon the piratical republication 
of this poem, "Science," by a Philadelphia printer, and the 
return to its original form with the author's revision in 
another edition published by Hugh Gaine, of New York, may 
be found in the New York Mercury, April 19, 1762, No. 507. 
This is reprinted in The Journals of Hugh Gaine, Printer, 
edited by Paul L. Ford (New York, 1902), Vol. I, p. 108. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 23 

offered by John Sargent, M.P., for the best essay 
to be writen by a graduate of the College of Phila- 
delphia upon the subject, "Reciprocal Advantages 
of a Perpetual Union between Great Britain and 
Her American Colonies." 6 He hoped that he 
might increase his small income from law and 
music by an appointment to some colonial office. 
To assist him in gaining such a position, he relied 
upon the influence of two men, Franklin and the 
bishop of Worcester, a kinsman of Mrs. Hopkin- 
son and a friend of Lord North. Some manu- 
script letters show the preparatory steps taken by 
Hopkinson, his mother, and Franklin, to enlist 
the interest of the bishop of Worcester in his 
young relative, before Hopkinson went to Lon- 
don, in 1766, hoping thus to secure his appoint- 
ment. A letter from Franklin to James Burrow, 
to be given to the bishop of Worcester, dated 
Craven Street, May, 1765, is quoted first: 

Mrs. Hopkinson is greatly esteemed by the People of 
the Place, as a prudent and good woman. Her husband, 
Thomas Hopkinson, was in repute as a Lawyer, sometime 
Judge of the Admiralty Court, and one of the Governor's 
Council. He left her a Widow about twelve years since, 
with five young children, two Sons and three Daughters. 
These she has carefully educated, genteely but frugally, 
out of an Income of a small estate, and I believe without 
much Diminishing their Portions. 

8 Four Dissertations on the Reciprocal Advantages of a Per- 
petual Union, etc. (Philadelphia, 1766). See the Bibliography. 



24 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Her eldest son, Francis, had a College education at 
Philadelphia, where he took his Degrees, has since read 
Law under the Att'y Gen'l, but still lives with his mother, 
and has not entered into any material Business as yet. 
He is a very ingenious young man and is daily growing in 
Esteem for his good morals and obliging Disposition/ 

The complement of this letter is among the 
Franklin manuscripts in the library of the Ameri- 
can Philosophical Society — an appreciative letter 
from Mrs. Hopkinson to Franklin, after she had 
learned of the latter's efforts to interest her rela- 
tive in her behalf. 8 The date is October i, 1765. 

A Thousand Thanks to you for the agreeable knowl- 
edge of my Relations in England and for the Trouble 
yourself and your Friend Mr. Burrow have been at in 
obtaining it — when we consider how much Business of 
great importance of your own you must have to transact, 
how must my Gratitude and my children be heightened for 
the uncommon Care Regularity and Exactness you have 
used in tracing out my Family and for the favourable 
character you have been pleased to give us. The Marks 
of Regard you are continually Shewing to the Family of a 
deceased Friend is to me a convincing proof of the Good- 
ness of your Heart and I must declare that among all my 
Husbands former Friends I know of but one Gentleman 
besides Yourself who has been good enough to extend any 
of their Regard to his Wife and Children — and it is my 
sincere prayer that every kindness you have been pleased 

7 For a copy of this letter I am indebted to Mrs. Florence 
Scovel Shinn, a descendant of Hopkinson. 

8 Permission to print this and the following letter was 
given by the librarian of the American Philosophical Society. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 25 

to show to me and mine may be doubled in Blessings on 
Yourself and Family. Shall I beg the further Favour of 
you to transmit the enclosed packet and Letters as directed. 
I send you herewith an order on Messrs. Barclay and Sons 
for the expense you have been at in this affair. Your 
good will and Trouble I cannot repay and must there- 
fore remain 
Your ever obliged Friend and Humble Servant, 

Mary Hopkinson 

Among the letters from Hopkinson to Frank- 
lin, in the manuscript collection at the library of 
the American Philosophical Society, is one sup- 
plementary, in time and message, to that just 
quoted. After thanking Franklin for his kind 
recommendations, he continued in a frank man- 
ner, informing his elder friend of many matters 
of personal interest : 

You advised me in your last to send Mr. Burrows a 
small present of Sturgeon or apples with a Letter of 
Thanks for his kindness. I did write such a Letter 
before I received your advice; but was so stupid that I 
never thought of the other; — I fear such a thing would 
be improper now as being so late, that it will appear to be 
done in Consequence of your advice & not our own free 
act. But I will write the best apology I can and will ship 
some Sturgeon for him 

I visited your Family the Day before Yesterday & 
put Miss Sally's Harpsichord in the best Order I could but 
the Instrument, as to the Touch and all Machinery, is 
entirely ruined & I think past Recovery. — I think it would 
be very proper to sell this & buy her a new Harpsichd 
of a more simple Construction 



26 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

I have finished the Translation of the Psalms of 
David, to the great Satisfaction of the Dutch Congrega- 
tion at New York & they have paid me £145 of their Cur- 
rency which I intend to keep as a Body Reserve in Case 
I should go to England. 9 

Franklin had left England before Hopkinson 
arrived there, but the young man met a cordial 
welcome from his kinsman, and dined with Lord 
North, Benjamin West, and other men of note. 10 
He sought in vain for a crown appointment on 
the Board of Commissioners of Customs for 
Pennsylvania. The repeal of the Stamp Act, 
just as he had left America, caused a bevy of 
Royalist office-holders to clamor for new places 
in the colonies, and by them the first vacant 
official positions were filled. His visit was not 
wholly fruitless, however, for two years after his 
return, probably through the influence of Lord 
North, he was appointed collector of customs at 
Newcastle, and was allowed a deputy for actual 
service. In 1774 he was appointed by the crown 

9 Copies of this translation in book form are in the 
libraries of the New York Historical Society and the Histori- 
cal Society of Pennsylvania. An exhaustive study of Hop- 
kinson's work as musician has been made by O. G. Sonneck, 
in Francis Hopkinson and James Lyon (Washington, 1905). 

10 Mrs. Oliver Hopkinson, of Philadelphia, has some let- 
ters which he wrote to his mother from England, with in- 
teresting details of the life at Hartleburg Castle, where he 
was a guest, and of the visitors there. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 27 

as a member of the Provincial Council from New 
Jersey. 

Various influences, during the next two years, 
brought about a firm renunciation of Tory alle- 
giance, and Hopkinson joined in open sympathy 
with the patriot leaders. One of the first and 
most potent influences was his marriage to Miss 
Ann Borden, daughter of Judge Joseph Borden 
and granddaughter of the founder of the town of 
Bordentown, in New Jersey. The Bordens were 
ardent Whigs, and Hopkinson began to think and 
write in behalf of the colonies, even while he was 
a nominal servitor of the king. 11 He passed a 
part of each year in Bordentown, and the rest of 
the time in Philadelphia in law practice, until 
1774, when he moved his residence to Borden- 
town. In June, 1776, he resigned as a member 
of the Provincial Council and was chosen to 
represent New Jersey at the Continental Con- 
gress. Thus he became one of the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence. 

The three years before the Declaration of In- 
dependence were indeed critical. The hopes of 
relief yielded slowly to the certainty that war 
must decide the issue. To break away from Eng- 

11 A graphic story of the burning of the Borden house and 
the patriotic defiance of Madam Borden is given in the 
sketch of Hopkinson by Charles R. Hildeburne, in the Penn- 
sylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. II, p. 
319. 



28 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

land was a radical thought; to suggest a possible 
nation from the federation of scattered colonies 
seemed fanatical to many conservative Whigs, as 
well as to pronounced Tories. The history of 
these years, read in the contemporary newspapers, 
reveals the varied influences of legislators, 
preachers, wits, and pamphleteers. 

Among the earliest and most popular satires, 
which ridiculed the weakness of king and Parlia- 
ment, were Francis Hopkinson's A Pretty Story 
and A Prophecy. 12 The first was printed in Sep- 
tember, 1774, when the Continental Congress was 
convened in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia. 
Hopkinson here portrayed existing conditions in 
America, "The New Farm," under oppressive 
treatment by the nobleman upon "The Old 
Farm." The king was represented as the exacting 
nobleman, Parliament was "the nobleman's wife, 
with avaricious eye," and "Jack" was the Ameri- 
can colonist. Effective use was made of irony 
and argument, in reviewing the results of the 

12 A Pretty Story Written in the Year of Our Lord 1774 
by Peter Grievous, Esq. A.B.C.D.E. Veluti in Speculo (Phila- 
delphia, 1774) ; reprinted as The Old Farm and The New 
Farm: A Political Allegory, edited with notes by Benson 
J. Lossing (New York, 1857, 1864). In Hopkinson's 
Miscellaneous Essays, etc. (1792), Vol. I, pp. 92-97. Many 
of Hopkinson's early writings appeared in the Pennsylvania 
Magazine or American Monthly Museum (Philadelphia, 1775; 
edited and published by R. Aitkin). 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 29 

Stamp Act, the taxed tea, and the war-vessels in 
Boston Harbor. The droll illustrations in the 
later editions emphasize the absurdity of passages, 
like this allegory about Lord North and Parlia- 
ment : 

Now the Steward had gained an entire ascendancy 
over the King's Wife. She no longer deliberated what 
would most benefit either the Old Farm or- the New but 
said and did whatever the Steward pleased. Nay, so 
much was she influenced by him that she could neither 
utter ay or no but as he directed. For he had cunningly 
persuaded her that it was very fashionable for women to 
wear Padlocks on their Lips and that he was sure they 
would become her exceedingly. He therefore fastened a 
Padlock to each corner of her Mouth; when the one was 
open she could only say ay; and when the other was 
loos'd could only cry no. He took care to keep the 
keys of these locks himself; so that her will became 
entirely subject to his Power. 13 

There was an abrupt and prophetic ending to this 
tract : 

These harsh and unconstitutional proceedings irritated 
"Jack" and the other inhabitants to such a degree that — 
COETERA DESUNT. 

To encourage the sentiment of freedom and 
separation from England, Hopkinson wrote two 
clever, persuasive satires in fictional form, Letter 
Written by a Foreigner on the Character of the 

13 A Pretty Story (1774), pp. 65-91, in Hopkinson' 's Mis- 
cellaneous Essays; edition of 1857, in The Old Farm and the 
Nezv Farm, p. 31. 



3© HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

English Nation and A Prophecy. The former 
was calm and philosophical in tone : the observa- 
tions of a supposed visitor in England in 1776, 
who was amazed and grieved at the signs of 
decadence and provincialism, and above all at 
the obstinacy of the king and his ministers; for 
they "have quarrelled with their loyal and bene- 
ficial subjects" in America "because the latter will 
not acknowledge that two and two make five." 
A Prophecy was an answer to Letters of Cato 
to the People of Pennsylvania, which had been 
widely circulated among the Tory newspapers; 
they were earnest and forceful in their counsels 
against any secession of the colonies from the 
motherland. 14 This second allegory, like the first, 
suggested in form Arbuthnot's History of John 
Bull, and abounded in sentences of humor and 
mock-heroic. It was expressed in the phraseology 
of an old-time prophet, who deplored the contro- 
versial scenes in his vision, but declared for suc- 
cess to the cause of independence. 

Under the imagery of a tree, fruitful for many 
years, planted in a far-away country by the king 
of many islands, Hopkinson described the growth 

14 These Letters expressed the fears and protests of Rev. 
William Smith, provost of the College of Philadelphia, an 
earlier friend of Hopkinson, and one of the most able and 
persuasive of the Tory pamphleteers. The Translation of a 
Letter of a Foreigner, etc., is in Hopkinson's Miscellaneous 
Essays, etc. (1792), Vol. I, pp. 98-110. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 31 

of the American colonies and the benefits which 
they had brought to England. But, he added, 
"the North Wind blasted the Tree and broke 
its Branches." The prophet was introduced, 
with evident reference to Franklin; "and he shall 
wear spectacles upon his nose and reverence and 
esteem shall rest upon his brow." Then follows 
the advice of the prophet, that the old tree shall 
be hewn down, and a new, vigorous, young tree 
be substituted. This shall be defended against 

the winds of the North by a high wall. And they shall 
dress it and prune it, and cultivate it to their liking. 
And the young tree shall grow and flourish and spread 
its branches far abroad; and the people shall dwell under 
the shadow of its branches, and shall become an exceeding 
great, and powerful and happy nation. 15 

During the war Hopkinson's zeal for his 
country was expressed by service on committees 
for practical work, as well as by his writings. As 
one of three commissioners, under direction of 
the Marine Committee, he assisted in the work of 
equipping the navy; he was also treasurer of the 
Continental Loan Office for New Jersey. Frank- 
lin did not lose his interest in Hopkinson's career, 
as is indicated by letters from France, praising 
Hopkinson's "political squibs" and urging him 
to write more, offering him "gim-cracks" for 

16 This Prophecy is in Miscellaneous Essays, Vol. I, pp. 
92-97- 



32 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

scientific use, and congratulating him on his 
treasury office. 16 In return, Hopkinson both 
solicited and appreciated the fatherly interest of 
Franklin; in testimony, there is a manuscript 
letter, in the library of the American Philo- 
sophical Society, which contains some side-lights 
upon military affairs and the varied pursuits of 
Hopkinson : 

Phila. 22d Octr. 1778 
My dear Friend, 

Had I consulted my own Inclinations more than your 
Ease, you should have frequently heard from me since 
you left us; but knowing your Correspondence to be ex- 
tensive & your Engagements important, I have avoided 
offering myself to your Notice, lest I should intrude on 
more Weighty Concerns. I would not, however, carry 
Delicacy so far as to run the Hazard of being entirely for- 
got by one who was my Father's Friend to the last & whom 
I am very proud to call mine, a continuance of your 
Regard will be a real Gratification to me & flatter my 
Vanity, as I can truly say I both love & honour you. — I 
have suffered much by the Invasion of the Goths & Van- 
dals. I was obliged to fly from my House at Borden 
Town with my Family & leave all my effects in statu quo, 
the Savages plundered me to their Heart's Content — but 
I do not repine, as I really esteem it an honour to have 
suffered in my Country's cause & in Support of the Rights 
of Human Nature & of civilized Society. I have not abili- 
ties to assist our righteous Cause by personal Prowess & 
Force of Arms, but I have done it all the service I could 

16 The Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin (Bigelow), 
Vol. VI, pp. 421, 422; Vol. VII, p. 294. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 33 

with my Pen. Throwing in my wits at Times in Prose & 
Verse, serious & satirical essays &c. The Congress have 
been pleased to appoint me Treasurer of Loans, for the 
United States with a salary of 2000 Dollars. Could our 
money recover its former Value, I should think this a 
handsome appointment — as it is, it is a Subsistence. 

Mrs. Bache has been so good as to lend me your 
portable electrical apparatus, which I have got in excel- 
lent order, & shall take great Care of; it is a great Amuse- 
ment to me & I hope you will not be offended with her 
& me for this Liberty. I wish to borrow also your 
little Air Pump which is at present much out of Order 
but I will clean it and put it to Rights if she will let me 
have it. Whatever she lends me shall be punctually 
restored on Demand, in good Repair. N. B. Your 
Gim-cracks have suffered much by the late usurpers of 
our City. 

But I will not detain you longer with my Uninteresting 
Chat. Sincerely wishing you a long Continuance of 
Health & Ease, & all the solid Comforts which a good 
Man enjoys in the decline of Life, 
I am, dear Sir, 
Your ever affectionate & unfeigned Friend, 

Fras Hopkinson 

Another evidence of popular esteem came to 
Hopkinson when he was appointed, in 1779, as 
judge of the Court of the Admiralty. He held 
this position for ten years, when he was made 
district judge by appointment of Washington. 17 
x\s lawyer and judge he was astute and liberal; 

17 Letter of appointment in possession of Mrs. Oliver 
Hopkinson. 



34 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

his decisions were cited with respect by later 
jurists. Apparently he was once the victim of 
enmity, and was charged and impeached for ac- 
cepting bribes, gifts, etc., during the first year 
of his judgeship. 18 He was acquitted, and this 
forgotten episode left no stain upon his reputa- 
tion for integrity and efficiency. Four years later 
Jefferson recommended him as director of the 
mint, with this characterization: "a man of 
genius, gentility, and great merit — as capable of 
the office as any man I know and the appointment 
would give general pleasure because he is gen- 
erally esteemed." 19 

That the lucrative directorship did not come 
to him unsought is shown by a letter from him 
in the Jefferson Papers, in manuscript, now in 
the Library of Congress. 20 The letter was dated 
Philadelphia, May 12, 1784: 

It appears by your Letter that Congress have again 
taken up the Idea of a public Mint. I beg leave to men- 
tion to you that I have long had it in Contemplation to 
sollicit the super-Intendency of this Department should it 

18 For an account of "The Impeachment and Trial of 
Francis Hopkinson, Judge of the Admiralty, November, 
1780," see Pennsylvania State Trials (edited by Edmund 
Hogan), Vol. I (Philadelphia, 1794). 

19 The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, edited by Paul 
Leicester Ford, Vol. Ill, p. 495. 

20 Jefferson Papers, in manuscript, Series II, Vol. XL, 
No. 27. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 35 

ever be established. Mr. Morris marked out this Station 
for me when he first formed the Idea of striking metal 
Coin for the U. States. My Gim-crack Abilities & I flat- 
ter myself my Integrity & Attention would be of Service 
in the Department — but my whole Scheme would fail 
unless this Mint should be carried on in or near this city. 
The Business of the Admiralty Department takes up but 
little of my Time, & its Emoluments (£500 per An) which 
is the whole of my Income, you may easily suppose to be 
insufficient for the Support & Education of so large a 
Family as I have in Charge. What with the Depredations 
of the enemy & my little Capital which lies entrapped (?) 
in the Movement of the Public Funds — I have given up 
all hope of leaving my Family anything of Importance 
at my Death, but my earnest Desire is to be enabled to 
leave them well educated — to do which I must procure in 
some line or other, a more liberal Income than £500 per 
an. This I cannot do in the way of Trade; my office as 
Judge prohibits it — at least not openly — but there will be 
no Inconsistence, in my holding such a Department under 
Congress. 

A few months before writing this letter, Hop- 
kinson had written to Jefferson, then in Paris, 
asking the privilege of correspondence with him, 
that he might express his literary and scientific 
fancies to one who would give appreciative re- 
sponse : 

I shall be happy to correspond with you, if you 
give me any Encouragement. My Fancy suggests a Thou- 
sand Whims which die for Want of Communication — nor 
would I communicate them but to one who has Discern- 
ment to conceive my Humour, and Candour with respect 



36 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

to my Faults & Peculiarities. Such a Friend I believe you 
to be. 21 

Evidently he received the wished-for en- 
couragement, as he wrote freely to Jefferson dur- 
ing the next five years, of his varied inventions 
and hopes for success with them. Thus, in 
December, 1785, he recounts: "I have con- 
trived a method of assisting a vessel in her sail- 
ing which promises great Success — it is simple, 
trifling in Point of expence & demonstrable in 
Theory. The Experiment has not yet been tried, 
but will be before long." 22 In April, 1787, he 
wrote: "I have invented this Winter a cheap, 
convenient & useful Appendage to a common 
Candle-stick, which keeps the Flames from being 
flared by the Wind in Summer or the Fire in 
Winter." 23 A year later he announced to Jeffer- 
son his plan to establish "a Wax Chandlery" in 
Philadelphia, if he can get some gentlemen to join 
in his plan. 24 Another invention was of a musi- 
cal kind: "In the course of my Experiments I 
discover'd a method of drawing the Tone from 
Metal Balls by Friction — to an amazing Perfec- 

21 Jefferson Papers, MS. (Library of Congress), Series II, 
Vol. XL, No. 24. 

22 Jefferson Papers, loc. cit., No. 3. This plan was out- 
lined in his Miscellaneous Essays, Vol. I, pp. 274-285. 

23 Ibid., No. 40. The model of this candle-case is in the 
American Philosophical Society. 

™Ibid., No. 41. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 37 

tion. — I am getting a Set of Bells cast & expect 
to introduce a new musical Instrument to be 
called the Bellarmonic" 25 

Hopkinson's legal and scientific activities made 
far less impression upon the people of his own day 
than was achieved by his writings, with their 
peculiar cleverness and logical force. It is very 
difficult for us today to measure the potent influ- 
ence of the writers of the Revolutionary and 
National periods on their contemporaries. Their 
products seem amusing, rather than forceful, 
when taken away from their context and natural 
environment. Many of Hopkinson's compo- 
sitions were ephemeral, yet they served a purpose 
of more lasting importance than the issue of 
the hour seemed to indicate ; others possess some 
literary merit in logical force and satire. Among 
the latter may be mentioned Letter to Lord Howe, 
after the devastating march of the British troops 
through New Jersey; John Burgoynes Procla- 
mation, and the strictures upon the Tory printers, 
James Rivington and Hugh Gaine. 26 Many of 

25 Ibid., No. 37- 

28 Miscellaneous Essays and Occasional Writings (1792), 
Vol. I, pp. 121-26, 146-50. In Two Letters (Vol. I, pp. 132- 
45) he hurled invective against the "innumerable lies from 
the batteries of Rivington and Gaine." This was followed 
by a clever lampoon, a mock advertisement of the books, 
maps, etc., of Rivington, who, after the surrender of Corn- 
wallis, found it was "convenient for the subscriber to remove 
to Europe" (Miscellaneous Essays, etc., Vol. I, pp. 159-69). 



38 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

his tracts and lampoons were first published in 
the Pennsylvania Packet, under the pseudonyms of 
"Calamus," "Cautious," "Calumniator," "A. B.," 
"One of the People," and occasionally, "RE" 27 
In their original form, as read in this paper, some 
of the attacks are truly Rabellaisian ; we easily 
believe the statement of his family that, in revis- 
ing his writings for publication, he modified the 
vehemence of many phrases. 28 

His war-verses were intended to inspirit the 
soldiers in days of gloom; and they accomplished 
that purpose. Among popular odes was the 
"Camp Ballad," which was well adapted to a 
marching-song : 

To arms, then, to arms ! 'Tis fair freedom invites us ; 
The trumpet shrill sounding, to battle excites us; 

27 Examples of this style are as follows : "Calamus" in 
Packet, February 9, 1782: "A Parody on a Scene in Mac- 
beth" by "Calumniator," Packet, April 2, 1782; a dignified 
remonstrance, by "A Lover of Candour," Packet, June 15, 
1782. 

28 In manuscript volumes owned by Mrs. Florence Scovel 
Shinn, a descendant of Hopkinson, are some scathing 
satires and doggerel songs like this complaint of the Tory 
leaders and printers : 

Burgoyne with thousand came 
In hopes of Wealth and Fame 

What hath he done? 
At Saratoga he 
Had the Disgrace to see 
Each soldier manfully 

Lay down his Gun. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 39 

The banners of virtue unfurled shall wave o'er us, 
Our heroes lead on, and the foe fly before us. 

The single composition by Francis Hopkinson 
which has been generally recalled was one of his 
most unliterary efforts, a mere jeu d'esprit — 
"Battle of the Kegs." The incident which he 
has preserved in memory by his verses illustrated 
Yankee ingenuity, and would make a strong 
appeal to a man of Hopkinson's tastes and sense 
of humor. A device by David Bushnell of some 
amateur torpedoes, known as the "American 
turtles," was the germ of the incident and song. 
Several of these torpedoes were floated down the 
Delaware in the late autumn of 1777, to annoy 
the British soldiers by causing explosions among 
the boats. The actual facts are given in differ- 
ent versions, but the incident, as well as Hopkin- 
son's verses, 29 have been mentioned in several 
records of the period. Without much question, 
the mock-heroic narrative, in prose, which was 
printed in the New Jersey Gazette, January 28, 
1778, was written by Hopkinson, as a preface to 

29 Explanation of this invention is given fully in James 
Thacher's Military Journal during the American Revolution- 
ary War, etc. (Boston, 1823), pp. 75, 76, 146-50; Appendix, 
pp. 452, 453. On p. 244, date July 10, 1780, he refers to an 
evening in camp when "we were delighted with the song com- 
posed by Mr. Hopkinson, called the Battle of the Kegs, sung in 
the best style by a number of gentlemen." For other ac- 
counts see Pennsylvania Ledger, February 11, 1778, American 
Philosophical Transactions, Vol. IV, p. 312. 



40 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

his verses. He thus ridiculed the effects of the 
kegs upon the British soldiers : 

Some asserted that these kegs were filled with armed 
rebels, who were to issue forth, in the dead of night, 
as the Grecians did of old from the wooden horse at the 
siege of Troy and take the city by surprise; declaring that 
they had seen the points of bayonets sticking out of the 
bung-holes of the kegs. Others said that they were filled 
with inveterate combustibles, which would set the whole 
Delaware in flames and consume all the shipping in the 
harbor. Whilst others conjectured that they were ma- 
chines constructed by a magic, and expected to see them 
mount the wharves and roll, all flaming with infernal 
fire, through the streets of the city. <„ ,» 

After an ironical recital of the attack upon the 
kegs "by land and marine forces," the caricature 
closed with this sentence of sarcasm : 

It is said His Excellency, Lord Howe, has despatched 
a swift-sailing packet, with an account of his signal 

victory to the court of London. In short, Monday the 

day of January, 1778, will be ever memorable in history 
for the renowned Battle of the Kegs. 

This briery satire in prose was followed prob- 
ably within a few months, by the rollicking 
stanzas, adapted to the tune of "Moggy Lawder," 
and the jolly raillery was sung and recited 
throughout the colonies. The verses have no 
true literary merit, but it cannot be denied that 
they have swing and effectiveness. The opening 
stanzas are typical of the form : 




GALLANTS attend, and hear* friend, 
Tril! forth harmonious ditty : 
Strange things I'll tell, which late befel 

In Philadelphia city. 
•JVas early day, as poets fay, 
Juft when the fun was riling, 
A foldier flood, on log of wood, 

And faw a fight furpriGng. 
As in a maze, he flood to gaze, 

The truth can't be deny'd, fir. 
He fpy'd a fcore —of kegs, or more, 
Come floating down the tide, fir. 
A failor too, in jerkin blue, 

The ftrange appearance viewing, 
ftrft damn'd his eyes, in great furprife, 

Then faid fome mifchiefs brewing, 
Thefe kegs now hold the rebels bold, 

Paek'd up like pickled herring : 
And they're come down t 'attack the town, 

In this new way of ferrying. 
The foldier flew, the failor too, 

And, fcar'd almoft to death, fir; 
Wore out their (hoes, to fpread the news, 

And ran till out of breath, fir. 
Now up and down, throughout the town, 

Mill frantic fcenes were afted : 
And fome ran here, and fome ran there 

Like men almoft; dillracled. 
Some fire cry'd, which fome deny'd, 

But laid the earth had quaked : 
And girls and boys, with hideous noife, 

Ran through the town half naked. 
Sir William he, fnug as a flea, 
Lay all this time a fnoring, 
Nor dreamt of harm, as he lay warm 
In bed with Mrs. L— — 3. 
' Now in affright, he (tacts upright, 
Awak'd by fuch a clatter ; 
fje rubs both eyes, aad boldly cries, 

" For Cod's fake what's the matter I" 
At his bed fide, he then efpy'd 
Sir Erfkiac at command, 6r, 



OF THE KEGS. 



Upon one foot he had one boot, 

And t'other in fais hand, fir. 
Arife ! arife ! Sir Erfkine cries $ 

The rebels — more's the pity— « 
Without a boat, are all on floatj 

And rang'd before the city. 
The motly crew, in veflels new. 

With latan for their guide, fir, 
Pack'd up in bags, or wooden fcee;s> 

Come driving down the tide, fir. 
Therefore prepare for bloody war ; 

Thefe kegs mud all be routed j 
Or furely we defpis'd filall be, 

And Britifh courage doubted* 
The royal band now ready Hand, 

All rang'd in dread array, fir, 
With ftomach flout, to fee it out, 

And make a bloody day, fir. 
The cannons roar, from (h ore to fhore s 

The fmall arms make a rattle : 
Since wars began, I'm fure no man 

E er law fo llrange a battle. 
The 8(h bilow fwatn to and fro, 

Attack* d from ev'ry quarter ; 
Why fure, thought they, the devils to pay} 

'Mongil folks above the water. 
Thefe kegs, 'tis faid, tho* ftrongly made, 

Of rebel (laves and hoops, fir, 
Could not oppofe their pow'rful foes, 

Theconq'ring Britifh troops, fir. 
From morn to night, thefe men of might 

Difplayd amazing courage ; 
And when tbefun was fairly down, 

Retir'd to fup their porridge: 
in hundred men with each a pen, 

Or more upon my word, fir, 
It is mod true, would be too few. 

Their valour to record, fir. 
Such feats did they perform that day 

Upon thefe wicked kegs, fir, 
That years to come, if tbey get borne, 

They'll make their boasts tad. brag*, fir. 



From an undated ballad-broadside, in American Antiquarian 
Society Library. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 41 

Gallants, attend, and hear a friend 

Trill forth harmonious ditty; 
Strange things I'll tell which late befell 

In Philadelphia city. 

'Twas early day, as poets say, 

Just when the sun was rising, 
A soldier stood on a log of wood 

And saw a thing surprising. 

A sailor too, in jerkin blue, 
This strange appearance viewing, 

First rubb'd his eyes, in great surprise 
Then said — "some mischief's brewing; 

"These kegs, I'm told, the rebels hold, 

Packed up like pickled herring; 
And they've come down t' attack the town, 
In this new way of ferrying" 30 

As an example of Hopkinson's more dignified 
method of writing, one may choose the tract, A 
Political Catechism, written after Washington's 
successful raid at Trenton and the apparent col- 
lapse of the British commanders. Contrasting the 
pampered Royalists with the American general^ 
he extolled Washington in terms of hero-worship : 

30 This ballad appeared in the Pennsylvania Packet, March 
4, 1778; its first printing was in 1779 by B. Towne, Phila- 
delphia (see Hildeburne's Issues of the Press of Pennsylvania, 
1885-86, Vol. II. p. 336). A broadside here photographed is in 
the American Antiquarian Society. The ballad is in Hopkin- 
son's Miscellaneous Essays, etc., Vol. Ill, p. 169. An edition 
was printed in 1866 by the Oakwood Press. 



42 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

To him the title of Excellency is applied with peculiar 
propriety. He is the best and greatest man the world 
ever knew. He retreats like a General and attacks like a 
Hero. Had he lived in the days of idolatry, he had been 
worshipped as a god. One age cannot do justice to his 
merit; but a grateful posterity shall, for a succession of 
ages, remember the great Deliverer of his country. 31 

The devotion of Hopkinson to Washington did 
not seem to be incited by hope of reward. It was 
the fervent expression of his nature, and is akin to 
many other tributes by ardent Federalists of that 
age, but in marked contrast to the anathemas 
heaped upon Washington and his friends by politi- 
cal opponents. Hopkinson considered Washington 
as a personal friend and patron of the arts in 
which he delighted. When he published a volume 
of his songs, with music, he dedicated the folio to 
Washington, in terms of intimate friendship. 32 
After a reference to the sympathy between them, 
he said : 

With respect to this little Work, which I now have the 
honour to present to your Notice, I can only say that it 
is such as a Lover, not a Master of the Arts, can 
furnish. I am neither a profess'd Poet nor a profess'd 
Musician; and yet venture to appear in those characters 
united ; for which, I confess, the censure of Temerity may 
justly be brought against me However small the 

31 Miscellaneous Essays, etc., Vol. I, p. 119. 

32 Seven Songs for the Harpsichord or Forte Piano. 
The Words and Music composed by Francis Hopkinson 
(Philadelphia, [1788]). 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 43 

Reputation may be that I shall derive from this Work, I 
cannot, I believe, be refused the Credit of being the first 
Native of the United States who has produced a Musical 
Composition. If this attempt should not be too severely 
treated, others may be encouraged to enter on a path, yet 
untrodden in America, and the Arts in succession will 
take root and flourish amongst us. 

In accepting the dedication and flattering letter 
which came with it, Washington deplored his 
own musical inability, but said, with kindly 
humor : 

I can neither sing one of the songs, nor raise a single 
note on any instrument to convince the unbelieving. But 
I -have, however, one argument which will prevail with 
persons of true taste (at least in America) — I can tell 
them that it is the production of Mr. Hopkinson 33 

To Jefferson, or his daughter, Hopkinson sent 
a copy of this songbook, with special mention of 
the pathos of the last number and the circum- 
stances of its writing. He explained that the 
songs were composed originally for his daughters, 

who play and sing them well. The last Song, if 
play'd very slow, and sang with expression, is for- 
cibly pathetic — at least in my Fancy. Both Words and 
Music were the Work of an hour in the Heighth of a 
Storm. But the Imagination of an Author who com- 
poses from his Heart, rather than his Head, is always 
more heated than he can expect his Readers to be. 34 

33 Manuscript letter owned by Mrs. Oliver Hopkinson. 
"Jefferson Papers, MS. Series II, Vol. XL, No. 43. This 
last, "pathetic" song is quoted in part below. 



44 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

In reply, Jefferson assured his friend of appre- 
ciation, and pictured his family of daughters 
enjoying the music upon the harpsichord, while 
the youngest girl was "all in tears. I asked her 
if she was sick? She said, no; but the tune was 
so mournful." 35 Evidently this tribute was 
agreeable to Hopkinson, and writers of his age, as 
a compliment to their skill in cultivating senti- 
mentality. 

These seven songs, examined today, show 
limited musical skill, but they were popular far 
into the last century. Such songs as "With 
Jemmy on the Sea" and the rhythmic "Hunting- 
Call" are not yet forgotten by singers of the older 
generation. The sentimental swain, the blushing 
maiden, and the weeping-willow in the back- 
ground, which furnish the setting for the songs, 
were familiar features of tales, verses, and samp- 
lers of that period. The most poetic of the verses 
is the seventh love-song, suggestive of Henry 
Vaughan or Robert Herrick in an occasional 
stanza. The song bore the title "My Generous 
Heart Disdains." 

Still uncertain is tomorrow, 
Not quite certain is today; 

Shall I waste my time in sorrow? 
Shall I languish life away? 

All because a cruel maid 

Hath not Love with Love repaid? 
35 Jefferson Papers, MS. Series I, Vol. Ill, No. 280. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 45 

In the political agitation which preceded the 
adoption of the Constitution by Pennsylvania, 
Virginia, and New York, Hopkinson took a 
prominent part through newspaper articles, urg- 
ing the need of a new declaration of federation 
for the states. He was one of the most urgent 
Federalists, although he died before the bitter 
contests of opinion between the Federalists and 
Anti-Federalists after the election of Washing- 
ton as president. He challenged Jefferson re- 
garding his attitude toward the Federal party, 
as is indicated by a letter from Jefferson to Hop- 
kinson. 36 In view of the later position of Jeffer- 
son as leader of the Democratic- Republican 
party, and his suspected alliance with Freneau 
in editing the most aggressive Anti-Federalist 
newspaper of the times, 37 this letter has a peculiar 
interest to modern students. Under date of 
Paris, March 13, 1789, Jefferson wrote: 

You say that I have been dished up to you as an anti- 
federalist and ask me if it be just, — my opinion was never 
worthy enough of notice to merit citing, but since you ask 
it I will give it you. 

I am not a Federalist, because I never submitted the 
whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of 
men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in 

38 Ibid. Series I, Vol III, No. 280. Also Jefferson's 
Writings (Ford) Vol. V, pp. 75-78. 

37 National Gazette, Philadelphia, October, 1791, to Octo- 
ber, 1793. 



46 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself, 
such an addiction is the last degredation of a free and 
moral agent; if I could not go to heaven but with a party, 
I would not go there at all, therefore I protest to you I 
am not of the party of the federalists, but I 
am much farther from that of the Antifederalists. I ap- 
proved, from the first moment, of the great mass of what 
is in the new constitution, the consolidation of the govern- 
ment, the organization into Executive, legislative and 
judicial, .... the happy compromise of interests between 
the great and little states by the different manner of voting 
in the different houses, the voting by persons instead of 
states, the qualified negative of laws given to the Executive 
which however, I should have liked better if associated 
with the judiciary as in New York, and the power of taxa- 
tion What I disapproved from the first moment 

was the want of a bill of rights to guard liberty against the 
legislative as well as executive branches of the government. 
.... I disapproved also the perpetual reeligibility of the 
President. 

About a year before this declaration of senti- 
ments by Jefferson, Hopkinson had written to 
him frankly of the controversy, especially in 
Pennsylvania, over the new Constitution, and had 
referred to his own literary services in the move- 
ment. He announced that Philadelphia was "in a 
high political Fermentation about our new pro- 
posed federal Constitution," and added : 

You will be surprised when I tell you that our public 
newspapers have announced General Washington to be a 
Fool influenced & led by that Knave Dr. Franklin who is a 
public Defaulter for Millions of Dollars, that Mr. Morris 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 47 

has defrauded the Public out of as many Millions as you 
please & that they are to cover their frauds by this new 

Government 

I had the Luck to discover & bring forward into public 
View on sufficient Testimony the writer of a Series of 
abominable abuse, under the Signature Philadelphiensis, 
he is an Irishman who came from Dublin about 3 years 
ago & got admitted as Tutor in Arithmetic in our Uni- 
versity* 38 I am now under the Lash for this Discovery, 
scarce a Day's papers without my appearance in the 
newspaper in every scandalous Garb that scribbling Ven- 
geance can furnish. I wrote also a piece stiled The New 
Roof which had a great Run. I would send you a copy 
but for the Postage. You will probably see it in some of 
the Papers, as it was reprinted in, I believe, every State. 39 

The Nezv Roof was another clever allegory, 
with blended prose and verse. It was vigorous 
as an argument for the new Constitution versus 
the futile Confederation, with its defunct powers. 
In New York, Virginia, and Massachusetts the 
tract was read and quoted by Federal leaders, 
while it caught popular fancy by its symbolic 
form. In behalf of a new Constitution Hopkin- 
son argued thus: 

1. That the whole fabric was too weak. 2. That there 
were indeed thirteen rafters ; but that these rafters were 
not connected by any braces or ties, so as to form a union 

38 Many articles, thus signed, were in The Freeman's Jour- 
nal, Philadelphia, during the fall of 1787. See attack on 
Hopkinson as "the little Fiddler" in The Independent 
Gazetteer, March 24, 1788, Centinel, No. XVII. 

39 Jefferson Papers, MS. series II, Vol. XL, No. 41. 



48 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

of strength. 3. That some of these rafters were too thick 
and heavy, and others too slight; and as the whole had 
been put together whilst the timber was yet green, some 
had warped outwards, and of course sustained an undue 
proportion of weight, while others, warping inwards, had 
shrunk from bearing any weight at all. 4. That the roof 
was so flat as to admit the most idle servants in the family, 
their playmates and acquaintances to trample upon and 
abuse it. 40 

With scathing wit, Hopkinson portrayed the 
leaders of the opposition to the "new roof," as 
the articles of agreement were generally called. 
He extolled James, the surveyor of the old roof 
— presumably James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, 
who had been chosen "as architect to look over 
the repairs;" and he caricatured such opponents 
as William Patterson, of New Jersey; Governor 
George Clinton, of New York; Robert Whitehill, 
and John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania. This is a 
typical passage of satire : 

Now there was an old woman, known by the name of 
Margery, who had got a comfortable apartment in the 
mansion house. This woman was of an intriguing spirit, 
of a restless and inveterate temper, fond of tattle and a 

great mischief-maker It so happened that in the 

construction of the new roof, her apartment would be 
considerably lessened. No Sooner, therefore, did she 
hear of the plan proposed by the architects, but she put on 

40 In the Pennsylvania Packet, December 29, 1787, is the 
prose part of The New Roof, unsigned, but prefaced by the 
words "For the Packet." , 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 49 

her old red cloak, and was day and night trudging amongst 
the tenants and servants and crying out against the new 
roof and the framers of it. Amongst these she had selected 
William, Jack and Robert, three of the tenants, and insti- 
gated them to oppose the plan in agitation ; she caused 
them to be sent to the great hall on the day of debate, and 
furnished them with innumerable alarms and fears, cun- 
ning arguments, and specious objections. 

The song which closed this allegory was 
effective and rhythmic : 

Up ! Up ! with the rafters ; each frame is a state : 

How nobly they rise ! their span, too, how great ! 

From the north to the south, o'er the whole they extend. 

And rest on the walls whilst the walls they defend : 

For our roof we will raise, and our song still shall be, 

Combined in strength, yet as citizens free. 41 

If such allegorical methods seem puerile to 
this critical age, we must remember that their 
simplicity, with their wit, made them far more 
effective among the people of the earlier time than 
any more subtle method would have been. In a 
letter from Robert Morris to Hopkinson, dated 
from Williamsburg, in 1788, is a direct allusion 
to the general interest awakened by this argu- 
ment in unique form : 42 

41 The Miscellaneous Essays and Occasional Writings of 
Francis Hopkinson, Vol. II, pp. 282-319. By a mistake, the 
date here is 1778, not 1787. 

42 From a manuscript letter owned and loaned by Mrs. 
Oliver Hopkinson. 



50 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

I received your obliging letter before my departure 
from Richmond and had much pleasure not only in read- 
ing "The New Roof" but also in communicating it to 
others; it is greatly admired & I tell them if they could 
but enter into the Dramatis Personae as we do they would 
find it still more excellent. The character of Margery is 
well hit off, how does the old Lady like it? I am not 
surprised that they should baste you in the Freeman's 
Journal, it is what you must expect as long as they have 
anybody to Wield a Pen. I observe they will not let me 
alone, altho no author. It is my fate to furnish matter for 
reproach whether I meddle or do not meddle in Politics, 
my successes & my misfortunes, whichever befall me, are 
equally the themes for abuse. However let them indulge 
their spleen — if I had nothing else to disturb my repose, 
I should sleep much at ease. 

My Wythe yesterday at Dinner introduced the New 
Roof as a subject and after expressing his approbation, 
very modestly supposed it to be one of your productions. 
Mr. G. Morris & myself joined in that opinion. Thus you 
see that whether you intend it or not, there always appear 
some characteristic marks in your writings that disclose 
the Fountain from whence they spring. 

As an example of the extravagant tribute paid 
to Hopkinson by his friends, here is a sentence in 
another letter by Morris, of later date : 

You are either a great Wit or Humorist, you have 
Superior Genius or you have great Talents or rather I 
shall come nearer the Truth by charging you with being 
the actual possessor of all these qualities. 43 

43 From a manuscript letter owned by Mrs. Oliver Hopkin- 
son. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 51 

This influence of Hopkinson among men of 
affairs was won in spite of very small stature and 
a weak presence. The familiar description of 
him, given by John Adams, has remained as a 
mistaken impression of his true personality. 44 
After meeting him at the studio of Mr. Peale in 
1776, Adams wrote to his wife : 

I have a curiosity to penetrate a little deeper into the 
bosom of this curious gentleman, and may possibly give 
you some more particulars concerning him. He is one of 
your pretty, little, curious, ingenious men. His head is not 
bigger than a large apple, less than our friend Pemberton 
or Dr. Simon Tufts. I have not met with anything in 
natural history more amusing and entertaining than his 
personal appearance — yet he is genteel and well bred and 
very social. 

Mingled with the delicate traits of Hopkinson 
were strength of mind and patience. 45 In circles 
of politics, education, and society his wit and 
geniality made him welcome. His touch was 
gentle, but beneath was a sting of ridicule which 
hurt his enemies more than the bolder satires of 
his contemporaries. His zeal for reform showed 
itself in clever essays upon education and allied 

44 Letters of John Adams Addressed to His Wife (Boston, 
1841), Vol. I, pp. 156, 157. 

45 As illustration of his gentleness was a popular story of 
a mouse which came forth daily to share his meals, and a 
flock of tame pigeons which greeted him (Delaplaine's Re- 
pository of the Lives and Portraits of Distinguished American 
Characters, Vol. Ill, p. 138). 



52 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

themes. Under the favorite signature of "Cala- 
mus" he remonstrated against the scandalous 
trend of journalism at the close of the war, and 
contended : 

Having observed with real concern, that our news- 
papers have for a long time past, been filled with private 
calumny to the great abuse of the liberty of the press and 
dishonor of the city, — I, who have ever been ambitious of 
devising something for the public good, set my wits to 
work to remedy this growing evil and to restore our ga- 
zettes, advertisers, journals and packets to their original 
design — viz., to make them the vehicles of Intelligence 
not the common sewers of scandal. 

Following this statement was an outline of a 
proposed plan for a "High Court of Honor" to 
decide cases of scandal and calumny. 46 

On the occasion of a petty quarrel between two 
bands of medical students and their respective 
schools in Philadelphia, Hopkinson addressed to 
the classes An Oration, so full of ridicule and 
good sense that it silenced the wranglers. 47 An- 
other effective remonstrance, in satire form was, 
Dialogues of the Dead/ 8 directed against the 
filth and carcasses of animals which were allowed 

46 Miscellaneous Essays, etc., Vol. I, pp. 151-58. 

47 An Oration Which Might Have Been Delivered to the 
Students in Anatomy on the Late Rupture between the Two 
Schools in this City (1789). 

^Miscellaneous Essays, Vol. I, pp. 327-39. This is 
referred to by MacMaster in A History of the People of the 
United States (1883), Vol. I, p. 64, note. 






FRANCIS HOPKINSON 53 

to putrify in the streets of Philadelphia. Among 
the tributes to Hopkinson's memory were some 
crude stanzas by John Swanwick, which are of 
interest because they record another occasion 
when Hopkinson by his pen gained a victory for 
civic betterment. In apostrophe his elegist wrote : 

Sweet spring advance, and deck with flow'rets gay, 
The tomb where Hopkinson's remains are laid : 

Ye Muses, there your constant vigils pay, 
And guard from ills the consecrated shade. 

Ye city trees, protect your patron's grave; 

He once from ruin saved your leafy charms, 
Then to his honor bid your green tops wave, 

And fold his urn in your embracing arms.* 9 

The allusion in these verses was to a plea by 
Hopkinson, in the Pennsylvania Gazette, in 1782, 
which was successful in rescinding a vote of the 
city government, declaring that all the city trees 
should be cut down for fear of contagion and fire. 
This was entitled A Speech of a Standing Mem- 
ber, the Plea of Citizen Tree. It was not alone 
witty, but it also showed much information re- 
garding moisture and sanitation. 

When the grand federal procession was held 
in Philadelphia, in July, 1788, to celebrate the 
adoption of the Constitution and the confidence 
of the people, Hopkinson was chairman of the 

49 The American Museum (Carey), Vol. IX, p. 38, Appendix 
(1792). 



54 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

committee of arrangements and has left a graphic 
account of the celebration. 50 

By such spirited attacks upon abuses of vari- 
ous kinds, which retarded true progress, Hopkin- 
son often created a tide of disfavor against them. 
He was an earnest student of the then known 
sciences, and a fearless critic of the stale, scholas- 
tic methods of teaching them. Like John Trum- 
bull in Progress of Dulness, he burlesqued the 
formal, lifeless recitations, in a satirical essay, 
Modern Learning Exemplified by a Specimen of 
a Collegiate Examination? 1 He ridiculed the 
stilted modes of teaching metaphysics, logic, 
natural philosophy, mathematics, anatomy, and 
"the Practice of Physic and Chemistry." A 
brief portion from this burlesque on examinations 
of his day is the following: 

Professor. "What is the salt called with respect to the 
box ?" 

Student. "It is called its Contents." 

Professor. "And Why so?" 

Student. "Because the cook is content, quoad hoc, to 
find plenty of salt in the box." 

Professor. "You are quite right. Let us now proceed 
to Logic. How many parts are there in a salt-box?" 

50 The account of this celebration is in Miscellaneous 
Essays, etc., Vol. II, pp. 349-422. The gold anchor worn by 
Hopkinson in his hat is in the collection of federal relics in 
Independence Hall, Philadelphia. 

51 American Museum, February, 1787, pp. 142-47. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 55 

Student. "Three, — bottom, top, and sides." 
Professor. "How many modes are there in a salt- 
box?" 

Student. "Four, — the formal, the substantial, the acci- 
dental and the topsy turvy." 52 

Hopkinson had many schemes for improving 
the teaching of sciences. Not a few of his 
ideas seem only predictions of the experimental 
modes of today, the natural and practical way of 
teaching science. He had a well-trained mind, 
and his odd conceits showed a marked degree of 
ingenuity. When the British troops devastated 
Bordentown, Hopkinson's house was saved by an 
incident which attests his scholarship. The 
torch had been applied to the outside of the house, 
when the captain of the Hessians, Ewald, seeking 
for plunder probably, entered the library and was 
amazed at the books, the scientific apparatus, and 
the mechanical designs. As he had an interest in 
science, he respected such evidences of scholar- 
ship and gave command that the flames should be 
extinguished. Within a volume of Provost 
Smith's Discourses he wrote, beneath his own 
seal, "This man was one of the greatest rebels, 
nevertheless, if we dare to conclude from the 
Library and Mechanical and Mathematical in- 
struments, he must have been a very learned 
man." 53 

^Miscellaneous Essays, etc., Vol. I, p. 344. 
53 Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 
II, p. 320. 



56 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Not all of Hopkinson's literary skits and 
essays were so purposeful and serious as those 
that have been cited. He turned his wit into a 
merry channel when he wrote the droll impres- 
sions, in a letter from a gentleman in Phila- 
delphia to his friend in Europe, On Annual 
White-Washings. This custom of the past days 
was cleverly described and parodied, as a part of 
the marriage contract, giving to the young wife 
"the free and unmolested exercise of the rights 
of white-washing, with all its ceremonials, privi- 
leges and appurtenances." In the same essay 
Hopkinson commemorated, with mingled respect 
and humor, another and more lasting custom of 
his native city : 

There is also another custom peculiar to the city of 
Philadelphia and nearly allied to the former. I mean that 
of washing the pavement before the doors every Saturday 
evening. I at first took this to be a regulation of the 
police, but, on further enquiry, find it is a religious rite 
preparatory to the Sabbath and is, I believe, the only 
religious rite in which the numerous sectaries of this city 
perfectly agree. 54 

Francis Hopkinson died of apoplexy, in May, 
1 79 1, and was buried in Christ Churchyard, 
although the tomb cannot now be identified. 55 

^American Museum, January, 1787, pp. 48-53; Miscellane- 
ous Essays, etc., Vol. II, pp. 146-60. 

65 His burial record, May 11, 1791, may be found in the 
manuscript list of burials of Christ Churchyard, to be found 
in the Library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 



FRANCIS HOPKINSON 57 

Both Bordentown and Philadelphia contain 
memorials of him. Much of his later life was 
passed in the latter city. The Hopkinson man- 
sion still stands in Bordentown, slightly changed 
in appearance from his day. It is linked in 
memory with his son, Joseph, as well as with the 
elder man. Here Francis Hopkinson delighted 
to return for rest and devotion to the arts. He 
played the spinet with such grace that Borden- 
town residents would congregate before his win- 
dows to listen. Here he painted many of his 
sketches and portraits. One of the latter was 
honored with a misplaced tribute, calling it the 
work of Copley. Joseph Hopkinson inherited 
his father's love for verse as well as his legal 
skill, and entertained distinguished guests, among 
them Joseph Bonaparte and Thomas Moore. The 
only notable contribution in verse by Joseph Hop- 
kinson which has survived is the ode, "Hail 
Columbia ! Happy Land !" 

The death of Hopkinson followed, within a 
few months, the decease of Franklin. This cir- 
cumstance, and the friendship between the two 
men, gave eulogists an opportunity for extrava- 
gant tribute to both. In the Columbian Magazine, 
May, 1 79 1, appeared a prose obituary of Hop- 
kinson and two elegies. One contained the 
refrain : "Another sage expired !" The versifier 



58 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

extolled both the gentleness and courage of Hop- 

kinson : 

The steady foe of tyranny confess'd, 

Yet with such art and gentleness reproved, 

That though some feared his pen, the man was loved. 

And be this line upon his tombstone writ — 

The friend of virtue and the friend of wit. 

In the prose estimate of Hopkinson's qualities 
the writer was more restrained and forceful. 
With truth, he declared : 

He thought much and thought justly upon the subject 
of education. He often ridiculed, in conversation, the prac- 
tice of teaching children the English language by means 
of grammar. Sometimes he employed his formidable 
powers of humor and satire in exposing the formalities of 
technical science. He was an active and useful member 
of three great political parties which, at different times, 
divided his native state — he was a Whig, a republican and 
a federalist and he lived to see the principles and wishes 
of each of those parties finally and universally successful. 
It only remains to add to this account of Mr. Hopkinson 
that the various causes which contributed to the establish- 
ment of the independent and federal government of the 
United States will not be fully traced unless much is 
ascribed to the irresistible influence of the ridicule which 
he poured forth from time to time upon the enemies of 
those great political events. 



PHILIP FRENEAU : AMERICA'S FIRST 
POET 




PHILIP FRENEAU 

From a sketch, made in his later years and finished after his 
death; reproduced from 1865 edition of his Poems. 



Ill 

PHILIP FRENEAU: AMERICA'S FIRST 
POET 

Among casual readers the name of Philip 
Freneau is more familiar than that of other writ- 
ers of his time, but we need more information 
about the details of his life and work. Recent 
indications may be found of an awakening inter- 
est in this early poet; his poems have been 
republished in two large volumes, a full bibli- 
ography of his writings has been issued, 1 and 
bibliophiles are rivaling each other in zeal to 
acquire first editions of his works. 

Freneau was an ardent patriot ; he was even a 
bitter partisan. During the war his satires in 
verse dismayed English generals and Loyalist 
sympathizers; during the years of controversy 
over the best form of government he wrote scath- 
ing tracts and editorials against the Federalists 
and their marked leaders. In this primal atten- 
tion to his service as satirist and political penman, 
too little study has been made of the frag- 

1 The Poems of Philip Freneau, edited by Fred L. Patee 
(Princeton, New Jersey, 1902-7; 3 vols.); Bibliography of 
the Works of Philip Freneau, compiled by Victor Hugo 
Paltsits (New York, 1903). 

61 



62 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

mentary, but significant, outbursts of lyrical 
poetry which were interspersed among his 
polemics and lampoons. Although the most 
spontaneous impulses of the lyric poet are found 
in his earlier stanzas, yet the martial sentiments 
did not wholly submerge the poetic yearnings in 
his later years. To Freneau, Mr. Stedman has 
traced "the first essential poetic spirit" 2 in Amer- 
ica ; he has included several of these poems in his 
anthology. 3 

As youth and man, Freneau was haunted by 
vague, restless desires to serve his country, and 
at the same time win fame for himself by his 
pen. His fancy and aspirations were early 
awakened, but, after a few ventures in poetry of 
the accepted mode, he realized that fate had 
placed him in conditions which called for other 
forms of literary service. There is bitterness of 
disappointment, but there is also determination 
to serve the hour, in his poem "The Author" : 

An age employ' d in pointing steel, 

Can no poetic raptures feel; 



The Muse of Love in no request, 
I'll try my fortune with the rest. 
Which of the Nine shall I engage, 

a Edmund Clarence Stedman, Poets of America (Boston, 
1896), p. 35- 

8 Stedman and Hutchinson, A Library of American Litera- 
ture (1897), Vol. I. 



PHILIP FRENEAU 63 

To suit the humor of the age? 
On one, alas ! my choice must fall, 
The least engaging of them all ! 
Her visage stern, severe her style, 
A clouded brow, a cruel smile, 
A mind on murder'd victims plac'd. 
She, only she, can please the taste. 4 

It is not difficult to trace the dual traits of the 
poet and the patriot in the inheritance of Freneau. 
A sensitive, romantic strain of ancestry was 
mingled with the sturdy Huguenot traits of thrift 
and courage. The grandfather, Andre Fres- 
neau, came to Boston in 1705. After a brief stay 
there, he spent a few months in Connecticut, and 
finally reached New York, where he secured a 
position with the Royal West India Company. 
Here he became associated with other men of 
Huguenot ancestry, who clustered their homes in 
the vicinity of Pine Street and the old Church of 
St. Esprit. 

He married the granddaughter of John Morin 
Scott, thus introducing more noble blood into 
the family. Andre died in 1725. His second 
son, Pierre, was the father of the poet. By 
native talents and marriage ties the family had 
gained social rank in those days of old New 
York when the homes of the elite were in lower 

*Poems Written between the Years 1768 & 1794, by 
Philip Freneau of New Jersey: A New Edition, Revised and 
Corrected by the Author (Monmouth, N. J., 1795), p. 327. 



64 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Broadway and Bowling Green. A house, long 
standing in Frankfort Street, was the birthplace 
of Philip Freneau in January, 1752. The year 
of his birth his father bought a thousand acres of 
land in Monmouth County, New Jersey, build- 
ing there a large mansion, to which he gave the 
name "Mont Pleasant," in memory of the fine 
estate of that name once owned by the family in 
France. 

According to the usual narrative, the Freneau 
home was transferred from New York to Mon- 
mouth. Mr. Pattee thinks that Philip was left at 
school, in New York, when the family moved 
away. 5 In either case, he found the first poetic 
incentive of his boyhood amid the New Jersey 
hills, which he so often extolled in verse. His 
mother, Agnes Watson Freneau, encouraged all 
the dreamy love for nature and books which the 
boy revealed. She was a woman with a beautiful 
face and a fine mind. Her portrait, as a girl of 
sixteen, was long a treasured heirloom, made 
doubly romantic by the saber thrust through the 
heart, which was a reminder of vandal British 
soldiers. Surviving her first husband by half a 
century, she married James Kearny. To the 
end of her ninety years she was a fascinating 
companion. 

5 "Introduction" to The Poems of Philip Freneau (1902-7), 
Vol. I, p. xv. 



PHILIP FRENEAU 65 

After a struggle with classic textbooks at the 
Latin school at Penelopen, Philip Freneau was 
placed under the tutorship of Rev. William Ten- 
nent, of Monmouth, and entered Nassau Hall, 
Princeton. Probably his roommate was James 
Madison. The latter was an intimate life-long 
friend of the poet, and was much enamored of 
Freneau's sister, Mary, when he visited at Mont 
Pleasant. Philip's brother, Pierre, generally 
called Peter, was for many years identified with 
the political movements in South Carolina, and 
was an adviser of Jefferson and his party. He 
inherited much of the ancestral thrift and in- 
dustry. At college, Philip was a classmate of 
James Madison, Aaron Burr, Aaron Ogden, and 
Hugh Henry Brackenridge. As a mere boy he 
wrote verses. Unfortunately, some of his juve- 
nile and bombastic efforts, like "The Poetical 
History of the Prophet Jonah," written at the 
age of fourteen, have been preserved in later 
editions of his poetry. In collaboration with 
Brackenridge he wrote the commencement poem 
at his graduation in 1772 — "The Rising Glory 
of America." 6 For some reason not explained, 
both Freneau and Madison were absent, or 
excused from taking part in the commencement 

6 This was published in pamphlet form, A Poem on the 
Rising Glory of America, etc. (Philadelphia, 1772). It is in 
his Poems (edition of 1795), pp. 36-46. 



66 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

programme, as is shown in a paragraph of record 
in the History of the College of New Jersey? 

An English forensic dispute on the question, "Does 
ancient Poetry excel the Modern?" Mr. Freneau, the 
Respondent, being necessarily absent, his arguments, in 
favor of the Ancients, were read Mr. James Madi- 
son was excused from taking any part in the exercises. 

In the same note upon this programme we 
read, "A Poem on 'The Rising Glory of America' 
by Mr. Brackenridge, was received with great 
applause by the audience." Possibly this state- 
ment has led to the uncertainty regarding the real 
authorship of this initial, boyish poem which was 
afterward included in Freneau's writings. The 
answer seems to be conclusive, as given by a 
friend of Brackenridge : 

Although he courted the Muses, and in conjunction 
with the poet Freneau, his classmate, composed a poem 
on "The Rising Glory of America/' he confessed that on 
his part it was a task of labor, while the verse of his asso- 
ciate flowed spontaneously. 8 

A few lines from this poem indicate both the 
aspiration and the zeal of its youthful authors; 
they seem also to prophesy the part that Freneau 
later was to play in commerce, as well as poetry : 

7 John MacLean, History of the College of New Jersey : 
From Its Origin in 1746 to the Commencement of 1854 
(Philadelphia, 1877), Vol. I, p. 312, note. 

8 Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. VIII, No. 1, p. 2, 



PHILIP FRENEAU 67 

Great is the praise of commerce, and the men 
Deserve our praise who spread from shore to shore 
The flowing sail; great are their dangers too; 
Death ever present to the fearless eye 
And ev'ry billow but a gaping grave; 
Yet all these mighty feats to Science are 
Their rise and glory. 9 

A curious quarto manuscript may be found in 
the library of the Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
vania, entitled "Father Bumbo's Pilgrimage to 
Mecca in Arabia, Vol. II., written by H. B. and 
P. F., 1770." The easy translation of these let- 
ters indicates that the two friends had collaborated 
in poetry before they wrote the commencement 
poem. These earlier verses relate many adven- 
tures, and contain a few doggerel rhymes on 
political affairs. 10 Occasionally there is a stanza 
of true appreciation of nature, although ex- 
pressed in stilted phrase — as this: 

Sweet are the flowers that crown the Vale, 
And sweet the spicy breathing Gale, 

That murmurs o'er the hills, 
The hour the distant lowing throng 
Thro' verdant pastures move along, 

To drink from limpid Streams and crystal Rills. 

°A Poem on the Rising Glory of America; Being an 
Exercise Delivered at the Public Commencement at Nassau 
Hall, September 25, 1772, p. 18. 

10 Bound in the manuscript with this poem is a collection 
of tirades, probably written by Freneau and his college friends 
to ridicule a rival society of Tories. 



68 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Freneau taught school, for a brief period, after 
he left college. His first experience was in Flat- 
bush, Long Island, but later he joined Bracken- 
ridge in Maryland, at Princess Anne Academy. 
The two friends made fitful attempts at the study 
of theology; then abandoned this for law, which 
became the life-profession of Brackenridge. 
Freneau's career as pedagogue outlasted his time 
spent in reading for the ministry and the bar, but 
he disliked the experience as teacher. His dis- 
heartening impressions were given in letters, and 
also in a droll poem, "The Miserable Life of a 
Pedagogue." To Madison he wrote of his forced 
acceptance of a school at Flatbush, and his dis- 
gust: 

I did enter upon the business of it certain and con- 
tinued in it thirteen days — but — Long Island I have bid 
adieu, With all its brainless, brutish crew. The youth of 
that detested place, Are void of reason and of grace. From 
Flushing hills to Flatbush plains, Deep ignorance unri- 
vall'd reigns. I'm very poetical but excuse it. 11 

With more of humor, tinctured still by im- 
patience, he wrote his impressions in verse-form 
for publication: 

A plague I say on such employment, 
Where's neither pleasure nor enjoyment; 
Whoe'er to such life is ty'd, 
Was born the day he should have dy'd; 

II Madison Papers, Letters to Madison, November 2, 
1772 (Library of Congress), Vol. XIII, p. 9. 



PHILIP FRENEAU 69 

Born in an hour when angry spheres 
Were tearing caps or pulling ears. 
And Saturn slow 'gainst swift Mercurius 
Was meditating battles furious ; 
Or comets with their blazing train, 
Decreed their life, a life of pain. 12 

During these early years Freneau did other 
work more worthy than the poetical efforts 
quoted; the latter are of interest only in tracing 
the story of his life, with its varied experiences. 
Some of his verses, written before the war, por- 
tray the customs of his age. When the war was 
imminent, he began his work as satirist, probably 
writing a parody on "Gen. Gage's Proclamation," 
which was widely circulated in the press and also 
published as a broadside, in June, 1775. 13 In the 
aggregate he wrote more than sixty satires, odes, 
and elegies on the war. One of the best lam- 
poons of the time was "The Midnight Consulta- 
tions," first issued as "A Voyage to Boston." 

12 This poem was included in a collection, printed as 
The American Village; A Poem. To Which are Added 
Several other Original Pieces in Verse. By Philip Freneau, 
A.B. (New York, 1772). Copies of this are in the Library 
of Congress and the John Carter Brown Library. From the 
latter copy a reprint has been made (1906), published by the 
Club for Colonial Reprints of Providence. 

13 This is so suggested by Mr. Paltsits, in his Bibliography, 
p. 27. In The Origin of McFingal, by J. Hammond Trumbull, it 
is mentioned as possibly by John Trumbull ; but this seems 
unlikely from the internal and collateral evidence. See fur- 
ther explanation on p. 129. 



7© HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

The scene was laid in the quarters of General 

Gage, the night after the battle of Bunker Hill. 

Both Lord Percy and General Gage were ridiculed 

thus: 

Lord Percy seem'd to snore — O conscious Muse, 
- This ill-timed snoring to the Peer excuse, 
Tir'd was the Hero of his toilsome day, 
Full fifteen miles he fled, — a tedious way — 
How should he then the dews of Somnus shun, 
Perhaps not us'd to walk, much less to run. 

The moan of Gage was a familiar stanza of cari- 
cature : 

Three weeks — ye gods! nay, three long years it seems, 
Since roast beef I have touched except in dreams. 
In sleep, choice dishes to my view repair, — 
Waking, I gape and clamp the empty air. 
Say, is it just that I, who rule these bands, 
Should live on husks, like rakes in foreign lands." 

Uneven in workmanship, with less natural wit 
than Hopkinson and Trumbull had, Freneau was 
yet the acknowledged satirist of the war, who 
accomplished the greatest results in annoying 
the British and Loyalists and in cheering the 
patriot leaders. He was ever ready to extol the 
bravery of the latter, as in his alleged words of 
Gage, after he realized the valor of the minute- 
men: 

""A Voyage to Boston" (Philadelphia, 1775). The 
quotations given are in the original form, pp. 10 and 15. The 
whole poem is in Poems Written between the Years 1768 & 
1794 Xi795), PP. 1 1S-21. 



PHILIP FRENEAU 71 

When men like these defy my martial rule, 
Good heaven ! it is no time to play the fool. 

During the first years of the conflict Freneau 
was eager to serve his country in military hazards, 
as well as by writing. He probably entered the 
army as a private in 1778; possibly he was raised 
to the rank of sergeant, as is reported in Jersey- 
men in the Revolution. 15 In his obituary in the 
New York Spectator there is also reference to his 
brief service under arms. 16 Whether these state- 
ments are fallacious or true — and opinions differ 
— he did not serve long as a soldier. His sensi- 
tive, restless nature fretted against the delays and 
reactions which preceded and followed the procla- 
mation of independence. While waiting for the 
issue to come, he carried out a long-cherished 
plan and made a voyage to the West Indies. 
Combining trade with pleasure, he delighted in 
the sunny skies and floral beauties of Jamaica and 
Santa Cruz. The impressions on his memory 
and poetic imagination were expressed in such 
melodic stanzas as this : 

Amid the shades of yonder whispering grove, 

The green palmetoes mingle, tall and fair, 
That ever murmur, and forever move, 

Fanning with wavy bough the ambient air." 
15 Jerseymen in the Revolution, p. 465. No further infor- 
mation is given. 

18 New York Spectator, December 31, 1832. 

""Beauties of Santa Cruz," Poems, etc. (1795), p. 134. 



72 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

It was under the same influences, environed by 
the dreamy atmosphere, that he conceived and 
wrote the first version of "The House of 
Night" 18 This is a strange, weird vision, some- 
what suggestive of Coleridge and Poe. In some 
passages the uneven meters and the excess of 
moralizing spoil the poetic beauty, but there are 
bits of fine and haunting melody, not unlike that 
of "Ulalume." Such is the picture of "the death 
of Death" at the hour of midnight : 

Sweet vernal May — tho' then thy woods in bloom 
Flourish'd, yet nought of this could Fancy see; 

No wild pinks bless'd the meads, no green the fields, 
And naked seemed to stand each lifeless tree. 

Dark was the sky, and not one friendly star 
Shone from the zenith, or horizon clear; 

Mist sate upon the plains, and darkness rode 
In her dark chariot, with her ebon spear. 

And from the wilds, the late resounding note 

Issued, of the loquacious whippoorwill ; 
Hoarse, howling dogs, and nightly-roving wolves 

Clamour'd, from far-off cliffs invisible." 

18 This poem was printed in the United States Maga- 
zine, edited by Brackenridge, in August, 1779, pp. 355-63. 
It has the subtitle "Six Hours Lodging with Death." In the 
same magazine appeared, that year, other poems by Freneau, 
including "The Dying Elm," "King George the Third's 
Soliloquy," and "King George's Speech to Lord North." 

w Poems, etc. (1795). P- 93- This poem was in the first 
edition, 1786, pp. 101-23, as "The Vision of Night." 



PHILIP FRENEAU 73 

Certain love-sonnets, written during this voy- 
age to southern seas, extolled a "Fair Amanda," 
to whom the poet paid homage. Miss Austin sur- 
mises that she was the daughter of Freneau's host 
in the Bermudas. 20 Such minor experiences, 
however, were dimmed in remembrance by his 
exciting adventure in 1780, as he was starting 
on another voyage for the Indies. His ship, 
"Aurora," sailing out from Delaware Bay, was 
pursued and captured by the British ship "The 
Iris." The account of this capture, and the sub- 
sequent horrors on the prison-ship to which he 
was transferred, afforded theme for one of his 
most biting satires, "The British Prison-Ship." 21 

After this dramatic experience, Freneau, weak- 
ened by fever and exposure, returned to Mon- 
mouth, where he wrote a group of deadly satires, 
incited by personal anger against King George, 
Lord Cornwallis, Sir Henry Clinton, and the 
Loyalist printers, Gaine and Rivington. Among 
the many political verses that he wrote, between 
1780 and 1783, three were widely quoted, and 

20 Mary S. Austin, Philip Freneau : The Poet of the Revo- 
lution, edited by Helen Kearny Vreeland (New York, 1901), 
p. 88. 

21 From an unpublished manuscript in prose, said to have 
been written a few days after the release, there was printed, 
in 1899, Some Account of the Capture of the Ship Aurora 
{New York). 



74 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

represent his versatility in form: "The Last 
Will and Testament of James Rivington, 
Printer," 22 "The Prophecy," and the elegy, "To 
the Memory of the Brave Americans under Gen- 
eral Greene, who fell in the action of September 
8, 1 78 1." The last poem is better known to 
modern readers by its later title, "The Battle of 
Eutaw Springs." 

"The Prophecy," characterized by bravado 
and personal thrusts, caught the popular fancy : 

When a certain great king whose initial is G, 

Shall force stamps upon paper and folks to drink tea; 

When these folks burn his tea and stamped paper, like 

stubble, 
You may guess that this king is then coming to trouble. 
But when a petition he treads under his feet, 
And sends over the ocean an army and fleet; 
When that army, half starved and frantic with rage, 
Shall be cooped up with a leader whose name rhymes 

to cage; 
When that leader goes home, dejected and sad, 
You may then be assured the king's prospects are bad. 
But when B. and C. with their armies are taken, 
The king will do well if he saves his own bacon. 
In the year Seventeen hundred and eighty and two, 
A stroke he shall get that will make him look blue ; 
In the years eighty-three, eighty-four, eighty-five, 
You hardly shall know that the king is alive; 
In the year eighty-six the affair will be over, 

"Poems, etc. (1795), "The British Prison Ship," p. 161-75 
"James Rivington's Last Will and Testament," p, 204. 



PHILIP FRENEAU 75 

And he shall eat turnips that grow in Hanover. 
The face of the Lion shall then become pale, 
He shall yield fifteen teeth and be sherr'd of his tail, 
O king, my dear king, you shall be very sore. 
The Stars and the Lily shall run you on shore, 
And your Lion shall growl but never bite, more. 23 

As an evidence of the versatility of Freneau, 
and his skill in other forms of verse than the 
satire and lampoon, we recall the elegy on the 
soldiers who fell at the battle of Eutaw Springs. 
One stanza has gracious truth and deep feeling: 

Stranger, their humble graves adorn; 

You too may fall and ask a tear : 
'Tis not the beauty of the morn 

That proves the evening shall be clear. 

This was the poem which won praise from Walter 
Scott "as fine a thing of the kind as there is in the 
language." 24 Critics would charge Scott with 
plagiarism because, admitting his knowledge of 
Freneau's poem, he repeated a line almost ver- 
batim, in Marmion: "They took the spear, but 
left the shield.'' More probably this was a case 
of coincidence or literary suggestion. 

At the close of the war Freneau was a young 
man under thirty, with a reputation for mental 
alertness and wit, but without any definite pro- 

23 Poems of Philip Freneau Written Chiefly during the 
Late War (Philadelphia, 1786), p. 178, Poems (1795), p. 178. 

2 * Duyckinck, Cyclopaedia of American Literature, Vol. I, 
P- 335- 



76 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

gramme of life or any fixed income. For the 
next six years he made frequent trips as mer- 
chant, and became known as "Captain Freneau." 
Meanwhile he wrote verses of nature-love and 
domestic customs, sending these often to the 
Freeman's Journal and the Pennsylvania Packet, 
both published in Philadelphia. From these 
papers the poems were reprinted, without name, 
in many other journals throughout the country. 
During the year 1787 alone he gave to the 
journals mentioned, without signature, such 
poems as "The Almanack-Maker," "The Deserted 
Farm-House" (which was also printed in the 
London Morning Herald, July 12, 1787), "The 
Hermit," "The Indian Student," and the dainty 
poem, "May to April," which ranks beside his 
more familiar "The Wild Honeysuckle," 25 and 
contains this stanza : 

Without your showers I breed no flowers, 
Each field a barren waste appears, 

If you don't weep, my blossoms sleep, 
They take such pleasure in your tears. 26 

25 Freeman's Journal or North American Intelligence 
(published by Francis Bailey) ; Pennsylvania Packet am 
Daily Advertiser; Freneau's poems in the issues for Fet 
ruary 14, April 2, April 18, (Packet), May 24, (Packet), 
June 9 (Packet), June 20, November 14, etc. In these papers 
appeared also an advertisement of the first collection 
Freneau's poems, in 1786 (published by Bailey). 

26 Cf. Poems (1795). P- 96. 



PHILIP FRENEAU 77 

Freneau had special reasons for wishing to end 
his roving life and gain a stable income; for he 
married, in 1790, Eleanor Forman, a fine woman 
belonging to a well-known New Jersey family. 
She had a taste for versifying, and the lovers 
corresponded "in lyric measures" for more than 
a year before marriage, under the names of 
"Ella" and "Birtha." 27 As he lacked training 
for any other profession, Freneau decided to try 
to find a place as editor, after his return to New 
York in 1789, from a trip to Charleston as mer- 
chant. 28 For several months he was associated, 
perhaps as editor, with the New York Daily Ad- 
vertiser, published then by Childs and Swaine. 29 
Here he came into friendly relations with John 
Pintard, who gave valuable reminiscences of 
Freneau after the latter's death. 

Jefferson heard of Freneau as a strong 
Democrat in principles and a keen writer. He met 
him at the house of a friend, and was further 

27 These same names, "Ella" and "Birtha," were used by 
two other poets who contributed to Fenno's Gazette of 
the United States, 1791. See issues for February 23, April 
16, May 14, etc. For these dates I am indebted to Mr. 
Victor H. Paltsits. 

28 For information regarding this fact and his marriage, 
see Narrative of a Journey down the Ohio and Mississippi, 
by Major Samuel Forman (1789-90; reprinted 1888), pp. 10- 
n). 

28 Hudson, History of Journalism in the United States 
(1873), P. 175. 



78 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

influenced in his favor by Madison. The first 
direct evidence of Jefferson's interest in Freneau 
was his appointment of the poet, in 1791, as for- 
eign translator for the Department of State to 
succeed Pintard, who did not care to leave New 
York when the seat of government was moved to 
Philadelphia. The work of this position was not 
heavy, and its requirements were small — "no 
other qualification than a moderate knowledge of 
French," according to Jefferson's words. The 
salary of $200 a year was acceptable to the young 
man. This appointment, held by Freneau during 
the two years when he was editing an Anti- 
Federalist paper, was widely advertised and 
brought upon him attacks by political opponents, 
who spared not Jefferson in their innuendoes. 
An interesting, unpublished letter has come to my 
notice, which bears upon this situation, in the 
manuscript Pickering Papers, at the Massachu- 
setts Historical Society. 30 The letter was written 
to Timothy Pickering by George Taylor, Jr., 
from Philadelphia, January 23, 1809: 

In order to give a full view of the circumstances 
under which Mr. Freneau was employed as Interpreter 
for the Department of State, by Mr. Jefferson, it will be \ 
requisite for me to go as far back as the year 1785. 

30 Pickering Papers, Vol. XXIX, No. 50. Copied by per- 
mission. The official correspondence on this appointment is ; 
in Jefferson Papers (Library of Congress), Series I, Vol. IV,, 
No. 153, Vol. IX, No. 250; Series II, Vol. XXXIII, No. 48.. 



PHILIP FRENEAU 79 

On the first day of January in that year several of my 
friends at New York, without my knowledge, having 
recommended me to Mr. Jay, then Secretary for foreign 
affairs, one of them mentioned it to me and desired me 
to wait upon him, which I did, when he engaged me as a 
Clerk in that Department. Shortly after, Mr. Jay in 
conversation pointed out to me the advantage of acquir- 
ing a knowledge of the French & Spanish Languages. 
Not being able to find a suitable Teacher of the latter, 
I commenced the study of the former and occasionally 
upon emergencies, I translated for the Department. 

When in 1789 the seat of Government was about being 
removed from New York, finding the interpreter for the 
Department did not mean to go with it, I called upon 
Mr. Jay and mentioned the circumstance to him, at the 
same time intimating that, as I knew from the friend- 
ship he had evinced for me, he would not hesitate to 
say whether he thought me competent and that in case 
he did, I should esteem it a favor if he would mention 
me to Mr. Jefferson, as a candidate for that office. He at 
once said that he thought I was ; that he conceived it of 
importance to have the secrets of the Department con- 
fined to as few a number as possible, or to those 
already employed in it and therefore would with 
pleasure call upon Mr. Jefferson on the subject. 
The day following Mr. Jay informed me that he 
had mentioned the matter to Mr. Jefferson who had de- 
clined making the appointment until he should get to 
Philadelphia, and advised me then to renew my appli- 
cation. 

This I accordingly did. Mr. Jefferson told me that he 
did not conceive he could with propriety give me the two 
salaries. I observed that my salary as clerk was small, 
and that that of the Interpreter being only 250 Dollars 



So HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

no man would accept but as a secondary object, and of 
course the business of the office must frequently be in- 
terrupted in waiting for translations — that if I held it, 
I would always attend to it seasonably, without its inter- 
fering with my other official duty. He concluded by 
saying that he should not at present fill up the vacancy. 

Some months or weeks after this, I received a letter 
from a friend at New York informing me that he had 
been told by Mr. Freneau that he was appointed Inter- 
preter for the Department of State. I replied that it 
could not be correct — for that before the Government re- 
moved from that city, having the french treaties to col- 
late, and he being in the employment of Childs & Swain, 
who were printing them, I asked him to assist in the colla- 
tion and he declined it, alleging that he did not sufficiently 
understand the language, but from its affinity to the 
Latin, made out to read it. 

However, he soon after came to this city, received the 
appointment and in some cases I have assisted a Dutch 
gentleman then an inmate of my family to translate 
french documents put into his hands by Mr. Freneau, 
which to my knowledge belonged to the Department of 
State I do not recollect when he resigned but be- 
lieve it was in the summer of 1793 — as in the winter of 
I 793~i794 I translated the documents in the voluminous 
correspondence between the Department of State and 
Genet. . . . 

We must recall that this letter was written by 
a disappointed candidate for the office given to 
Freneau, but it indicates the stress of feeling on 
the matter of this appointment. This was in- 
creased when, in October, 1791, Freneau started a 
newspaper, openly anti-Federalist in its principles 



PHILIP FRENEAU .81 

and merciless in its attacks upon Washington 
and Hamilton. There is evidence that Freneau 
did not come to Philadelphia as an editor very 
willingly, for he had planned to start a demo- 
cratic newspaper near his Monmouth home, and 
preferred to keep his residence there. Madison 
urged him to come to Philadelphia, but he still 
demurred, and Jefferson feared that he had lost 
his editorial ally. The former wrote to Randolph, 
his son-in-law, of the influence wielded by Fenno's 
Gazette of the United States, saying : 

You will have perceived that the latter (Fenno's) is 
a paper of pure Toryism, disseminating the doctrines of 
monarchy, aristocracy, and the exclusion of the people. 
We have been trying to get another weekly or half-weekly 
set up, excluding advertisements, so that it might go 
through the states and furnish a whig vehicle of intelli- 
gence. We hoped at one time to have persuaded Freneau 
to set up here, but failed. 31 

The relations between Jefferson and Freneau, 
in connection with the National Gazette, have 
never been fully settled. In his own age the poet 
was very severely arraigned on account of his 
editorials against the Federal leaders. Many 
of his friends, in later life, felt that he had been 
merely a tool in the hands of Jefferson. Others — 
and this seems the more reasonable opinion — be- 
lieved in his independent advocacy of democratic 
principles. The sarcasms which gave spice to the 

31 Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. V, p. 336. 



82 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

editorial columns differed little from the same 
form of writing in Freneau's earlier and later 
works. Jefferson was, naturally, well pleased to 
have such a keen free-lance to support his views, 
and he probably gave Freneau encouragement and 
access to any democratic publications or criti- 
cisms on the aristocratic tendencies of the Fed- 
eralists. The detailed story of Freneau's service 
as editor of this journal, and his principles at the 
time, have been well studied by Dr. Samuel E. 
Forman in "The Political Activities of Philip 
Freneau." 32 

In the library of the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania is a manuscript letter from Freneau 
to William B. Giles, dated December 2, 1793, in 
which he announces the suspension of the 
National Gazette, thanks his patron for his sub- 
scription, and expresses a hope that the paper 
may be revived. The paper had suspended pub- 
lication on October 26; doubtless the prevalence 
of yellow fever in Philadelphia affected both its 
receipts and its continuance. Jefferson openly 
expressed regret that the Gazette was discon- 
tinued, and thus emphasized its importance : "His 
paper has saved our constitution which was gallop- 

32 Samuel E. Forman, "The Political Activities of Philip 
Freneau," Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and 
Political Science, Series XX, Nos. 9, 10, September-October, 
1902. Jefferson's explanation is in his Writings, Vol. VI, pp. 
101-09. 



PHILIP FRENEAU &3 

ing fast into monarchy & has been checked by 
no means so powerfully as by that paper." 33 

A comparison of the two Gazettes of this time 
and city — those edited by Freneau and Fenno in 
the interests of the Democratic and the Federal 
parties respectively 34 — reveals many interesting 
paragraphs. The tone of difference was at first 
mild and courteous, but gradually waxed bitter 
and sharp. Freneau printed in his Gazette, 
throughout its existence, some of his verses of 
lighter vein, as "The Country Printer," "The 
Jug of Rum," and "The Pilot of Hatteras," as 
well as his more philosophical reverie "On the 
Sleep of Plants." 35 After Freneau's Gazette had 
been published for a few weeks, the attacks which 
he made, with subtle, withering ridicule, upon 
Hamilton and John Adams called forth answering 
assaults in Fenno's Gazette. The latter were less 
witty and far more virulent. The chief charge 
which they raised against Freneau was that he 
had accepted a place as interpreter in the Depart- 
ment of State and was guilty of treasonous cen- 
sure upon the very government which he served. 

33 Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. I, p. 231. 

3 * Freneau's paper was styled the National Gazette; Fen- 
no's, the Gazette of the United States. Files of these rival 
journals may be found at libraries in Philadelphia and at the 
Library of Congress. 

35 See National Gazette for November 14, and December 
x 9> J 79i J January 16, and January 23, 1792. 



84 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

The most pointed attack was in Fenno's Gazette, 
in July, 1792, signed "T. L.," 36 inquiring whether 
Freneau's salary was paid for translating or for 
publications which vilified the government which 
he served. With a sting, which was intended to 
pierce the mind of Jefferson, he added : "In com- 
mon life it is thought ungrateful for a man to 
bite the hand that puts bread in his mouth, but if 
the man is hired to do it, the case is altered." 

Because of insinuations like the above, Fre- 
neau was urged by Jefferson's friends to take an 
oath before the mayor of Philadelphia that 
no negotiation was ever opened with him by Thomas 
Jefferson, Secretary of State, for the establishment or 
institution of the National Gazette; that the deponent's 
coming to the city of Philadelphia as a publisher of a 
newspaper was at no time urged, advised or influenced 
by the above officer, but that it was his own voluntary 
act; — that not a line was ever directly or indirectly writ- 
ten, dictated or composed for it by that officer, but that 
the editor had consulted his own judgment alone in the 
conducting of it — free, unfettered and uninfluenced. 87 

While the question of his coming to Philadel- 
phia at the urgent wish of Jefferson would seem 
to be answered in the affirmative by some of the 

36 The communications thus signed have been generally 
assigned to Alexander Hamilton. Freneau wrote in severe 
satire on Hamilton's assertion that "a public debt is a public 
blessing." 

37 Gazette of the United States, August, 1792; also given 
in Forman, Political Activities of Philip Freneau, p. 56. 



PHILIP FRENEAU 85 

letters of both Freneau and Jefferson, still extant 
and quoted, yet the oath was probably taken in 
good faith. Freneau's enemies were not satisfied 
to accept it thus. They charged him with per- 
jury, and he was long suspected. In the main, he 
did not reply directly in his paper to such charges, 
but the pronounced inference from the para- 
graphs by "T. L.," just quoted, that he was a 
mere hireling of a political leader, roused his 
anger, and he quoted the accusation, and made 
answer : 38 

The above is beneath a reply. It might be queried, 
however, whether a man who receives a small stipend 
for services rendered as a French translator to the de- 
partment of State, and, as editor of a free newspaper 
admits into his publication impartial strictures on the 
proceedings of gov't, is not more likely to act an honest 
and disinterested part towards the public, than a vile syco- 
phant, 39 who obtaining emoluments from government far 
more lucrative than the salary alluded to (by undermining 
another man who was in possession of the employ) 
finds his interests in attempting to poison the minds of 
the people by propagating and disseminating principles 
& sentiments utterly subvertive of the true republican 
interests of this country, and by flattering and recom- 
mending every and any measure of government, however 

38 National Gazette, July 28, 1792, p. 3. 

39 John Fenno, the editor of the rival Gazette, was printer 
to the Senate of the United States, and also for the 
Treasury Department. His emoluments were declared to be 
two thousand or twenty-five hundred dollars a year. See 
article, signed G, in National Gazette, August 15, 1792. 



86 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

pernicious & destructive its tendency might be, to the 
great body of people. The world is left to decide on the 
motives of each. 

This prose statement was followed by an ode, 
beginning : 

Since the day we attempted the Nation's Gazette, 
Pomposo's dull printer does nothing but fret. 

Now preaching 

And screeching, 

Then nibbling 

And scribbling 

Remarking 

And barking, 

Repining 

And Whining, 
And still in a pet 
From morning to night with the Nation's Gazette. 

Instead of whole columns our page to abuse, 
Your readers would rather be treated with news ; 

While wars are a-brewing, 

And kingdoms undoing, 

While monarchs are falling, 

And princesses squalling, 

While France is reforming, 

And Irishmen storming, 

In a glare of such splendour, 

What nonsense to fret 

At so humble a thing 

As — the Nation's Gazette. 






Freneau's criticism of Washington as Presi- 
dent, and of his party, did not lessen his admira- 
tion for the man and the soldier. Among many 






PHILIP FRENEAU 87 

elegies upon Washington were three by Freneau, 
sympathetic and loyal. In one he expressed just 
resentment at the extravagant eulogies so com- 
mon at the time of Washington's death; with 
directness and truth he summarized the hero's 
traits : 

He was no god, ye flattering knaves, 
He owned no world, he ruled no waves; 
But, — and exalt it if you can, — 
He was the upright, HONEST MAN. 

This was his glory, this outshone 
Those attributes you doat upon; 
On this strong ground he took his stand, 
Such virtue saved a sinking land. 40 

In further proof of the kindly personal rela- 
tions which existed between Washington and 
Freneau, the latter's daughter recalled a visit 
which Washington made to their Monmouth 
home, when he was an honored guest and devoted 
himself to the children. 41 In contrast with this 
family story was another, from the same source, 
which would give weight to the suggestion that 
Freneau was not on very cordial terms with 
Jefferson after the abandonment of the Gazette. 
It was reported that Jefferson, when President, 
would befriend Freneau, who was in financial 

40 A Collection of Poems, etc. (New York, 1815), Vol. I, p. 
161. 

41 Mary S. Austin, Philip Freneau : The Poet of the Revo- 
lution, p. 170. 



88 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

stress, by appointing him as postmaster, and he 
summoned Freneau to an audience. The poet 
returned a haughty answer: "Tell Thomas 
Jefferson that he knows where Philip Freneau 
lives, and if he has important business with 
him, let him come to Philip Freneau's house and 
transact it." 42 

After the failure of his Gazette, Freneau 
seemed to meet rebuffs and reverses until the end 
of his life — a period of forty years. As a poet, 
he often lost heart and was deeply depressed by 
the surroundings of his chequered life. In such 
moods he wrote some of his poems, like "To the 
Americans of the United States," in 1796: 

The coming age will be an age of prose: 
When sordid cares will break the Muse's dream, 
And Common Sense be ranked in seat supreme. 

In spite of such expressions of bitterness, there 
were flashes of poetic impulse, and constantly 
recurring ambitions to try again his fate as poet- 
editor. After he had moved his types from 
Philadelphia to Monmouth, he printed there the 
revised edition of his poems, adding only a few 
new ones, but reprinting, with some corrections, 

42 Loc. cit., p. 173. Mr. Pattee, in the "Introduction" to his 
edition of Freneau's Poems, tells the same story, but substi- 
tutes the name of Madison for that of Jefferson, with no 
explanation other than that of the poet's pride (Vol. I, 
p. lxxx). 



PHILIP FRENEAU 89 

those that had been printed by Bailey in 1786 
and 1788. 43 

For a year he was editor and printer of a 
curious little sheet, the Jersey Chronicle.** Its 
eight quarto pages contained spirited comments 
on politics and literature, with occasional jibes at 
the "aggravating insults offered to Americans, 
notwithstanding the treaty by Mr. Jay, from 
which the temporizing citizens of America ex- 
pected so many advantages." 45 The motto of 
this paper was an apt quotation from Horace: 
Inter sylvas Academi quaerere verum. In a letter 
to Madison he enlarged upon his plans to spend 
the rest of his life upon his Monmouth estate and 
edit "a small weekly newspaper calculated for the 
part of the country" in which he resided. Appar- 
ently the neighborhood failed to respond. After 
the abandonment of the journal, from lack of 
subscriptions, Freneau wrote again to Madison : 

After experiencing one or two disappointments, I am 
now, through the kind aid of some friends here, nearly- 
completing the project of a co-partnership with Thomas 

43 Poems Written between the Years 1768 & 1794 by 
Philip Freneau of New Jersey. A New Edition, Revised and 
Corrected by the Author. Monmouth (N. /.). Printed at 
the Press of the Author: M, DCC, XCV. 

"Jersey Chronicle, Monmouth (N. J.), May 2, 1795, to 
April 30, 1796; file in Lenox Library. 

^From the issue of April 2, 1796, in the American Anti- 
quarian Society. 



9© HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Greenleaf in his two Papers, The Argus, a Daily publica- 
tion, and The New York Journal, twice a week : both on 
a pretty respectable footing, and noted for a steady at- 
tachment to Republican principles, though open to all 
decent speculations from any party if they choose to 
transmit them. In short, I would wish to revive some- 
thing in the spirit of the National Gazette, if time and 
circumstances allow, and with proper assistance hope to 
succeed; — 
Thus, 

A Raven once an acorn took, 

From Bashan's strongest stoutest trees; 
He hid it near a murmuring brook, 
And liv'd another oak to see. 48 

Whether as a result of this project and assist- 
ance, or following another disappointment, Fre- 
neau entered upon his last journalistic venture, in 
New York, in April, 1797, where for about a 
year he edited a tri-weekly, the Time-Piece and 
Literary Companion. 47 He had two associates, 
in turn, A. Menut and M. L. Davis, the latter 
continuing the paper for a few months after Fre- 
neau had withdrawn for lack of financial return. 
In this journal appeared some of Freneau's 
poems, and his translation of "New Travels of M. 
Abbe Robin in North America" — spicy prose with 
satiric touches. 

48 Madison Papers, Freneau to Madison, December i, 
1796 (Library of Congress), Vol. XXI, p. 70. 

* 7 Time-Piece and Literary Companion, New York, April, 
1797, to March, 1798. 



PHILIP FRENEAU 91 

The prose style of Freneau was, at its best, 
crisp and simple, in contrast with the labored 
pedantry of his contemporaries. Perhaps the 
most representative example is Letters by Robert 
Slender, O.S.M.** The "Advice to Young 
Authors," in this collection, has a sensible 
reminder : "Never make a present of your works 
to great men. If they do not think them worth 
purchasing, trust me they will never think them 
worth reading." "Robert Slender, Stocking- 
Weaver," became a favorite pseudonym for 
Freneau, used both in prose and verse. In the 
library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania 
can be found two copies of a pamphlet, A Laugh- 
able Poem or Robert Slender 's Journey from 
Philadelphia to New York by Way of Burlington 
and South Amboy. 49 Intended as a farce, the 
characters include Robert Slender, Mr. Snip, 
Billy O'Bluster, Snipinda, and the milliner's 
maid. In plot, the writing is farcical, but the tale 
does not appeal strongly to our conception of the 
"laughable." There is drollery, and a rol- 
licking meter in some portions, as in chapter 6, 
"The Chapter of Vexations and Disasters," which 

48 The letters "O.S.M." meant "One of the Swinish Mul- 
titude." Many of these letters are also in Freneau's Mis- 
cellaneous Works (Philadelphia, 1788). 

49 This bore imprint, Philadelphia, 1809. 24 pp. A copy 
is also in Brown University Library. It is in his Poems 
.(1795), PP- 338-50. 



92 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

recalls the discomforts of that day of post-chaise 
traveling : 

Coop'd up in a waggon, the curtains let down, 

At three in the morning, we drove out of town: 

A morning more dark I ne'er saw in my life, 

And the fog was so thick it would cut with a knife; 

In a morning like this were the Trojans undone, 

When the horse was admitted, that never could run: 

It was a fit season for murders and rapes, 

For drunken adventures and narrow escapes. 

So, with something to think of, and little to say, 

The driver drove on, looking out for the day, 

Till we came to the brow of a damnable hill 

Six miles on our way, when the cattle stood still; 

"Are you sure you are right with the Waggon," cry'd Snip. 

"I am," said the driver, and crack'd with his whip, 
Then away ran the horses, but took the wrong road 
And down went the waggon, with all its full load, 
Down, deep in a valley, — roll'd over and over, 
Fell the flying machine, with its curtains and cover, 
Where shatter'd and wounded, no glimpse yet of day 
A mass of perdition, together we lay! 

The losses which resulted from his failures in 
journalism crippled Freneau's Monmouth prop- 
erty, as was shown in mortgages placed upon the 
estate after 1805. He sought to redeem his for- 
tunes by a return to seafaring and trading. His 
brother in South Carolina assisted him with com- 
mercial aid. From 1804 to 1809 he made several 
trips as a trader to southern states; but the 
journeys became irksome to him, and he longed 






PHILIP FRENEAU 93 

for retirement to his rural home. His last long 
cruise was to the Canary Islands in 1807, as he 
told Madison in a letter eight years afterward, in 
which he announced a new, expensive edition of 
his poems, to be issued by David Longworth, and 
to be paid for by subscription. This was the 
second two-volume edition which had been 
printed. The earlier venture, made in 1809, was 
an act of generosity, according to his statement to 
Madison, in the same letter : 

That edition was published by subscription merely for 
the benefit of, and to assist Mrs. Bailey, an unfortunate 
but deserving widowed female, niece of General Steele, and 
this consideration alone induced me to pay some attention 
to that third edition. 50 

Freneau was keenly hurt by the lack of appre- 
ciation among his contemporaries ; he yearned for 
some true sympathy and helpful criticism. The 
praise which he received was couched in the 
extravagant language of the day, and was irritat- 
ing rather than stimulating. Such was the rough 
verse in which Colonel Parke heralded him, after 
Freneau's first collection of poems appeared, in 
1786. Possibly the humor of Freneau helped him 
to appreciate the last line : 

And when you are number'd alas ! with the dead, 
Your work by true wits will forever be read, 

50 Madison Papers, MS. (Library of Congress), January 12, 
1815. 



94 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Who, pointing the finger, shall pensively show 
The lines that were written, alas ! by Freneau. 61 

Another droll tribute followed his poem, "The 
Pilot of Hatteras," by "Captain Freneau," in the 
Freeman's Journal three years later : 

This celebrated genius, the Peter Pindar of America, 
is now master of a Packet, which runs between New York, 
Philadelphia and Charleston. His tuneful numbers during 
the war did much to soften the disagreeable sensations 
which a state of warfare so generally occasions. 52 

With the readers of his own day Freneau's 
verses with a humorous tone were in greatest 
favor, such as "Crispin O'Connor," "Advice to 
the Ladies Not to Neglect the Dentist," "The Vil- 
lage Merchant," and "Farmer Dobbins's Com- 
plaint." There was a coarse humor, on a favorite 
subject of joke, in the last-named doggerel : 

Three daughters I have and as prettily made, 

As handsome as any you'll see; 
And lovers they count, — but still I'm afraid 

They always will hang upon me. 

These bucks of the town with their elegant coats 

I'm sick of their horses and chairs. 
They plunder my hay and they pilfer my oats, — 

Am I keeping a tavern, my dears? 53 

61 Freeman's Journal, June 21, 1786. 

62 Ibid., December 9, 1789. 
53 {Poems. 1795, p. 19). In the National Gazette, August 

25, 1792, this poem appeared as "Farmer Dobbins to the 
Buck-Suitors," signed "Dobbins". 






PHILIP FRENEAU 95 

This song, with two others by Freneau — "The 
Indian Student" and "The Rights of Man"— 
was included in The Columbian Songster or 
Jovial Companion, a collection of popular airs 
published in 1797. They are ranked there with 
Hopkinson's "Battle of the Kegs" and "With 
Jemmy on the Sea." 

Another favorite poem, ascribed in his own 
day to Freneau, and sung by school-children until 
recent years, was "The Death-Song of a Chero- 
kee Indian." It is not found in any of Freneau's 
collected poems, and was ascribed to Mrs. Ann 
Hunter, of England, before 1806. There still 
seems justice in asking if it may not have been 
written or adapted by Freneau. As "original 
poetry" it was contributed to the American 
Museum, in January 1787, with unquestioned 
authorship by Freneau, thus announced: 

The Death-Song of a Cherokee Indian 

By P. Freneau. 

The sun sets at night; and the stars shun the day; 
But glory remains when their lights fade away. 
Begin, ye tormentors : your threats are in vain : 
For the son of Alknomock will never complain. 

Remember the woods where in ambush he lay, 
And the scalps which he bore from his nation away, 
Why do ye delay? — till I shrink from my pain? 
Know the son of Alknomock can never complain. 



96 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Remember the arrows he shot from his bow: 
Remember your chiefs by his hatchet laid low, 
The flame rises high. You exult in my pain: 
But the son of Alknomock will never complain. 

I go to the land where my father is gone: 

His ghost shall exult in the fame of his son. 

Death comes like a friend. He relieves me from pain. 

And thy son, O Alknomock, has scorn'd to complain. 

Duyckinck, the friend of Freneau in later life, , 
included this poem, among Freneau's, in his 
Cyclopaedia of American Literature, with a note 
of explanation. Royall Tyler introduced it, 
with the music, into his play, The Contrast; 54 it 
seems unlikely that he would have used an English 
song in this first American drama, with its intense 
Yankeeism. In style of writing, in sentiment and 
theme, it is accordant with Freneau's poetry, and 
with his admiration for the defiant prowess of the 
Indian. In "The Indian Burying-Ground" he 
praised the custom of leaving the warriors, after rj 
death, in an upright posture, symbolizing immedi- - 
ate action and defiance to the wiles of the enemy. 
In "The Indian Student," one of his best poems, 
he awakened sympathy for his hero, yearning for i 
the free life of the forest, when he had been* 
taken from it and placed at college : 

A little could my wants supply, — 
Can wealth or honor give me more; 

54 The Contrast (Philadelphia, 1790). 



PHILIP FRENEAU 97 

Or, will the sylvan god deny 
The humble treat he gave before? 

Let seraphs reach the bright abode 
And Heaven's sublimest mansions see, — 

I only bow to NATURE'S GOD, 
The Land of Shades will do for me. 65 

Reading with care this group of Freneau's 
poems on Indian character, it seems as if the song 
in question might be his rendering. It was writ- 
ten after the first edition of his poems was 
printed, in 1786. The second edition, his Miscel- 
laneous Works?* in 1788, was compiled while he 
was away at sea, by the printer Bailey, and Fre- 
;neau regretted that he was not consulted in its 
preparation. He had an opportunity to place this 
boem in his Monmouth reprint, in 1795, but before 
the edition of 1809 appeared, the poem had been 
ascribed to Mrs. Hunter. Possibly Freneau was 
content to have it recognized as his in America, 
and would not openly dispute its authorship. 
On the other hand, it must be confessed that 
Freneau seldom omitted to claim as his own 
all his verses that had appeared in magazines or 

65 Poems Written between the Years 1768 & 1794 (Mem 
mouth, 1795), p. 80. When this poem appeared in the 
Pennsylvania Packet, June 9, 1787, unsigned, Freneau ex- 
Dlained a reference to "Harvard's Hall," with accurate de- 
vils, as at Cambridge, Mass. 

56 The Miscellaneous Writings of Mr. Philip Freneau 
[Philadelphia, 1788). 



98 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

newspapers, and were adapted for inclusion in his 
collected poems. 

The last thirty years of Freneau's life were full 
of memories and fading hopes rather than much 
active service. He wrote occasional essays and 
poems for the newspapers, often unsigned; many, 
of them may be found in Bache's Aurora, a Phila-t 
delphia journal of democratic trend. The War of 
1812 called forth from him several patriotic odes, 
celebrating the victories of Hull, Decatur, and« 
their crews. Belonging to this period of compo- 
sition was his "Ode to Liberty," beginning, "God I 
save the Rights of Man," which was sung for 
many years to the tune of England's national 
hymn — the same which was later chosen for Dr, 
Smith's national hymn of America. Because oi 1 
the interest which seemed to be revived in Fre- 
neau by his celebrant poems written during anc I 1 
after the second war with England, Longwortl 
decided to issue his poems in a two-volumr 
edition. This was done in 1815, 57 and sucl 
recognition nourished a feeling of grateful prid 
in the poet's heart. To Madison he wrote : 

I found last winter that an edition would soon be goin; 
on at all events, and in contradiction to my wishes, as I ha 
left these old scribblings to float quietly down the streari 
of oblivion to their destined element, the ocean of forget 
fulness I do not know that the Verses are c 

57 A Collection of Poems, etc. (2 vols.; New York, 1815 



PHILIP FRENEAU 99 

iny superior or very unusual merit, but he tells me the 
Town will have them, and of course, have them they will, 
nd must, it seems. 68 

It is pathetic to follow, in letters, Freneau's 
•ising hopes as a poet, gradually sinking into 
eigned indifference, then into periods of silence 
rom wounded pride. Although he spoke slight- 
ngly of his verses, they were very precious to 
tim, and he grieved at each new sign of neglect 
by the public. Such a temperament, however, 
/ill feed upon its own food of fancy and hope; 
:is imaginative delights were confessed in one of 
lis most dainty odes, "Apostrophe to Fancy" : 

Wakeful, vagrant, restless thing, 
Ever wandering on the wing, 
Who thy wondrous source can find, 
FANCY, regent of the mind! 



FANCY, to thy power I owe 

Half my happiness below ; 

By thee Elysian groves were made, 

Thine were the notes that Orpheus play'd; 

By thee was Pluto charm'd so well 

While rapture seized the sons of hell ; 

Come, O come, perceiv'd by none, 

You and I will walk alone. 58 

Madison Papers, Vol. XXXV, p. 17; letter dated Janu- 
y 12, 1815. 

59 "Ode to Fancy," Poems Written between the Years 
•68 & 1794 (1795), P. 3i. 



ioo HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

During the last years of his life Freneau was 
often seen in New York, where he would come 
from Monmouth to visit his friends — Governor 
Clinton, Dr. John Francis, and other men of note 
and letters. He persistently refused to sit for a 
portrait, but, on one of these visits to New York, J 
his face was sketched ; after his death the draw- - 
ing was enlarged, and is the only likeness which i 
we possess. The eyes, there pictured, represent i 
the tender heart which could not endure the sacri- I 
flee of a chicken or the killing of a fly, and which 
prompted him to manumit all the slaves on his | 
estate and support the old servants from an in- 
come which was insufficient for all his own needs. 
He had collected one of the best private libraries 
in his neighborhood ; this, with many other 
treasured heirlooms, was destroyed by fire in 
1818. After the loss of his home, he passed the 
rest of his days at the former home of Mrs. 
Freneau's father, in the vicinity. He had four 
daughters, but no son. His second daughter, 
Agnes Freneau Leadbeater, was a beautiful, witty 
woman. Her son perpetuated the family name by 
changing the order of his surnames. She was | 
often her father's companion on his visits to New 
York; she also inherited some of his poetic gifts I 
and wrote graceful rhymes of domestic life. 

Like many men of his age, Freneau delightec 
to mix a "glass of flip" for convivial occasions < 



PHILIP FRENEAU 101 

although in his verses he advises against the 
excessive use of tobacco and "the jug of rum." 
One of his most spontaneous lyrics was the poem 
of friendship, "The Parting Glass," with its clos- 
ing stanza : 

With him who loves a pot of ale, 

Who holds to all an even scale ; 

Who hates a knave in each disguise, 

And fears him not whate'er his size, — 

With him, well pleased my days to pass, 

May Heaven forbid THE PARTING GLASS. 80 

Freneau was found frozen to death in a bog- 
meadow after a severe snowstorm, in December, 
183 1. He was returning, in the evening, from a 
call upon a friend a short distance from his home 
and, at his advanced age, was not able to battle 
against one of the most turbulent storms of the 
winter. 61 Local and New York newspapers pub- 
lished brief obituaries of the poet whom his 
countrymen had seemed to forget. Side by side, 
in a field near his former home, are the graves of 
Freneau and his wife. His resting-place was 
beneath a tree where he frequently sat and mused. 
Near by flows the little stream which inspired one 
of his sprightly poems, "The Brook of the 
Valley" : 

w Poems Written between the Years 1768 6-1794 (1795), 
?. 85. 

61 Newspapers of the time mention this storm as unusually 
severe. 



102 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

When the shower of waters fell, 
How you raged, and what a swell! 
All your banks you overflow'd 
Scarcely knew your own abode! 

How you battled with the rock! 
Gave my willow such a shock 
As to menace by its fall 
Underbrush and bushes, all! 

Muddy now and limpid next, 
Now with icy shackles vext, — 
What a likeness here we find ! 
What a picture of mankind ! 62 

There were winsome traits in the personality 
of this elder poet. He was impractical in busi- 
ness and aggressive in political feelings, but he 
left some tuneful, hopeful messages of devotion 
to nature and sane living. 63 He was not so far 
removed from our pioneer writers of repute, as 
we might surmise. When he died, Irving and his 
Knickerbocker friends had written, not alone the 
Salmagundi Papers and the Knickerbocker His-) 
tory of New York, but also The Sketch Book and 
Bracebridge Hall. Emerson, at twenty-nine < 
already gave promise of becoming a force ir 
American letters. Bryant had written Thanatopi 
sis fifteen years before, and was in the full, 
maturity of his development. Longfellow anc 

62 The Poems of Philip Freneau (1815), Vol. II, p. 83. 
68 It is fitting that on his tombstone should be read 
Poet's Grave." 



PHILIP FRENEAU 103 

Whittier had sounded the primal notes of their 
poetry. During the last years of Freneau's life a 
wave of interest in American authors began to 
spread over the land. He was not included in the 
generous plaudits of reviewers — possibly because 
the stigma of his political virulence against Wash- 
ington's administration was not forgotten. To 
claim that he was the most gifted poet of Ameri- 
can literature, prior to the nineteenth century, is 
not extravagant tribute, for the attempts at verse 
were crude imitations of Pope and Gray. Many 
of such imitators, who gained more renown in 
their time than did Freneau, are now wholly for- 
gotten, while his work is gaining attention. The 
true distinction that he merits is as the first poet 
of indigenous themes, with a fearless strength and 
a true promise. In his poems are hints of 
later, more familiar verses ; his lyric "To a Caty- 
did" seems suggestive, both in fancy and form, of 
Dr. Holmes's "To an Insect" : 64 

Tell me, what did Caty do? 

Did she mean to trouble you? 

Why was Caty not forbid 

To trouble little Caty-did? 

Wrong indeed, at you to fling, 

Hurting no one while you sing 
"Caty-did ! Caty-did ! Caty-did !" 

Why continue to complain? 
Caty tells me she again 
84 A Collection of Poems, etc. (1815), Vol. II, pp. 84-86. 



104 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Will not give you plague or pain: — 
Caty says you may be hid, 
Caty will not go to bed 
While you sing us "Caty-did! 
Caty-did ! Caty-did ! Caty-did !" 

Freneau's poems reveal his blended traits 
— playfulness mingled with intense zeal, affability 
with possible rancor, delight in mystic fancy with 
vital interest in true democracy. In his satires and 
essays he showed his knowledge of the best 
English models; his sharp war-poems were often 
reflections of the Latin satirists. His lyrics of 
greatest skill were adaptations of Gray and 
Cowper, with unmistakable signs of originality in 
thought. Although he retained traits of French 
parentage, he was a true American, who shared 
fully in his country's struggles and rejoiced in its 
progress. 



JOHN TRUMBULL: SATIRIST AND 
SCHOLAR 




JOHN TRUMBULL 

Judge and author. From a portrait painted by John Trumbull, 
artist, and engraved by Durand. 









IV 

JOHN TRUMBULL: SATIRIST AND 
SCHOLAR 

According to a romantic tradition, a yeoman, 
in the time of an early English king, risked his 
own life in saving his majesty from an attack by 
an angry bull. In return for this service he was 
knighted as Turn-bull, with three bulls' heads for 
insignia and a bull's head for a crest. A descend- 
ant of this hero married a wealthy woman, and 
the remembrance of the knight's courage could not 
atone to her and her husband for the unpleasant 
name. He requested that, for his branch, the 
letters might be transferred; hence the name was 
called Trumbull or Trumble. The American pro- 
genitor of this family settled at Ipswich, in 1645, 
and had three sons — John, Jonathan, and Benoni 
— from whom were descended the two Governors 
Jonathan, the portrait-painter John, and the 
satirist of the same name. 

The little parish of Westbury, Connecticut, 
now a part of Waterbury, called as pastor of its 
village church, in 1729, a young man of athletic 
build, John Trumble. His muscularity seemed 
to make the first deep impression, according to a 
story often repeated. A band of competitive 
107 



108 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

wrestlers, known as "Town Spotters," were 
accustomed to meet at a "half-way house" in the 
neighborhood, to decide the championship of the 
town. On one occasion, when the last wrestler 
had won the contest, a masked stranger appeared, 
caught the champion by the foot, and threw him 
on the open fire. The stranger disappeared sud- 
denly but was soon after recognized as the young 
minister, Mr. Trumble. 

In the first church of the adjacent town of 
Waterbury there ministered a Mr. Leavensworth. 
Chancing to meet his Westbury colleague soon 
after the wrestling, he rebuked him for two sins 
— levity, and rashness in tossing the wrestler so 
near the fire, at the risk of fatal injury. With a 
wit which was as bold as his courage, the younger 
clergyman accepted the rebuke for levity, but de- 
clared : "As for the scorching, I thought it might 
be my duty to give your parishioners a foretaste 
of what they might expect after sitting under your 
preaching." * 

This Rev. John Trumble was a man of 
unusual traits, and became the father of a 
remarkable scholar. His second son, John, is the 

1 This story is told fully in The Town and City of Water- 
bury, Connecticut, from the Aboriginal Period to the Year 
Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-Five, edited by Joseph Ander- 
son, D.D. {New Haven, 1896), Vol. I, p. 326, 327. 






JOHN TRUMBULL 109 

subject of this chapter. In those days before pre- 
paratory schools, the local minister, if a good 
classical scholar, was often chosen as tutor to fit 
boys for college. Among the students whom Mr. 
Trumble was instructing in the mysteries of Cor- 
derius, Tully, and other classic texts, was William 
Southmayd, seventeen years old. The task 
seems to have been laborious for both teacher 
and pupil, but persistence won success. While 
this youth was struggling with his classic enemies, 
a little boy of six or seven years played about in 
the minister's study and, perhaps unconsciously, 
acquired the Latin words which daunted the older 
pupil. 

If we can believe the family journals — and 
there seems to be no good reason for distrusting 
them — little John Trumble 2 was the great 
American prodigy. At two years he recited all 
The New England Primer and Watts's Divine 
Songs for Children. At two and a half he could 
read, and at four or five he made his first reading- 
excursion through the Bible and Watts's Lyrics. 
At the same age he composed rhymes in the form 
of his venerable model, and "lay awake some 
nights" to get the correct prosody. By some un- 
explained lapse, he was unable to write until he 

2 The name was spelt Trumble in records until about 
1768. 



HO HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

was five ; so he preserved his hymnal compositions 
in printed letters. 3 

After such a life-record of five years, one is 
not surprised to read that from five to seven he 
mastered many of the Greek and Latin texts re- 
quired for entrance to college. When two candi- 
dates were presented at Yale, in 1757, by Rev. 
Mr. Trumble, the older pupil was nineteen and 
the younger, his son, was seven years and five 
months. Dr. E. A. Park, in his Sketch of 
Nathaniel Emmons, states that the latter had the 
honor of "holding on his knee" young Trumble, 
as he was examined in the specified Latin, Greek, 
and mathematics. 4 Newspapers at this early date 
seldom gave personal items, except marriage and 
death notices, but this incident was mentioned in 
the Connecticut Gazette, September 24, 1757; 
numbered among the candidates for admission 
was "the Son of Rev'd Mr. Trumble of Water- 
bury, who passed a good Examination, altho but 
little more than seven years of age ; but on account 
of his Youth his father does not intend he shall 
at present continue at College." 

One would expect better judgment from the 

z The Poetical Works of John Trumbull, LL.D. (Hart- 
ford, 1820), Memoir, p. 10.; extracts from Trumbull manu- 
scripts in Tyler's Literary History of the Revolution, Vol. I, 
pp. 190-94. 

* Works of Nathaniel Emmons, Vol. I, p. clxviii. 



JOHN TRUMBULL III 

ex-wrestler, but he allowed his son to spend the 
next six years reading the classics usually read at 
college, instead of roaming about care-free in the 
fields and woods, to counteract the mental 
excesses of earlier years. When the boy entered 
Yale at thirteen, he was so perfected in Greek 
and Latin that he devoted himself to mathematics, 
astronomy, and the few volumes of English essay 
and poetry then in the library. He had previously 
made acquaintance with Milton, Addison, and 
Thomson, in his father's study, and thus laid the 
foundations for his own literary expressions. 
After graduating, he remained as "Dean's 
scholar" for three years, until he won his master's 
degree at twenty years of age. 

The curriculum and educational modes at Yale 
were passing through a transition period. For 
more than a decade advocates of a broader spirit 
had sought to introduce oratory, sciences, and 
English literature, as Harvard had already done. 
But Yale, more conservative in both educational 
and theological tenets, lost ground among the pro- 
gressive men of the later Colonial period. Presi- 
dent Daggett and his venerable advisers were con- 
vinced that "solid learning alone" was necessary, 
and that the new branches, in contrast with the 
classic texts, and logic and theology, represented 
"folly, nonsense and an idle waste of time." The 
crisis came in 1771, when three of the conserva- 



112 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

tive professors resigned, and Timothy D wight 
and John Trumbull were chosen as tutors. 5 

In the library at Yale University may be read 
the first argument in serious prose by John Trum- 
bull in behalf of the cultivation of literary tastes 
of college students. It was entitled An Essay on 
the Use and Advantages of the Fine Arts. 6 The 
paper revealed a broad scholarship for that day. 
In a few words, Trumbull characterized sciences, 
literature, and art as educative agencies. He con- 
trasted the culture of the heathen nations with 
that of Greece and Rome, and summarized each 
classic writer of special note in a few, cogent 
sentences. Then followed a review of English 
history and literature, from the reign of Eliza- 
beth to the time of Pope and Thomson. Brought 
thus down to contemporary times, he urged upon 
Americans the need of culture, especially along 
the lines of the fine arts. A few sentences will 
illustrate the clearness and earnestness of thought: 

America hath a fair prospect in a few centuries of 
ruling both in arts and arms. It is universally allowed 

5 W. L. Kingsley, A Sketch of the History of Yale Col- 
lege, Vol. I, pp. 95-97' 

6 An Essay on the Use and Advantages of the Fine Arts: 
Delivered at the Public Commencement in New Haven, Sept. 
12, 1770 (New Haven, 1770; 16 pages, 8vo). Copies of this 
may be found at Yale University, Watkinson Library of Hart- 
ford, Library of Congress, and Massachusetts Historical 
Society. 



JOHN TRUMBULL 113 

that we very much excel in the force of natural genius : 
and although but few among us are able to devote their 
whole lives to study, perhaps there is no nation in which 
a larger portion of learning is diffused through all ranks 
of people. For as we generally possess the middle station 
of life, neither sunk to vassalage, nor raised to independ- 
ance, we avoid the sordid ignorance of peasants, and the 
unthinking dissipation of the great. 

The sentences which follow are significant, for 
they indicate the political conditions of the time 
and predict the part soon to be played by Trum- 
bull as patriot-satirist : 

Happy, in this respect, have been our late struggles for 
liberty ! They have awakened the spirit of freedom ; they 
have rectified the manners of the times ; they have made us 
acquainted with the rights of mankind; recalled to our 
minds the glowing independance of former ages, fired us 
with the views of fame, and by filling our thoughts with 
contempt of the imported articles of luxury, have raised an 
opposition not only to the illegal power, but to the effemi- 
nate manners of Britain Our late writers in the 

cause of liberty have gained the applause of Europe. 
Many elegant essays have been produced in the style of 
wit and humour ; nor hath Poetry been entirely unculti- 
vated among us ! 

In witness of the last statement, and in accord- 
ance with the custom of the times, Trumbull 
dosed his peroration with lines of prophecy upon 
America's future bards. This attempt at verse is 
weak and bombastic, in contrast with the simpler, 
luent prose. One stanza, often quoted at the 



H4 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

time, arouses a smile today because of the allied 
names of the popular poets in that day : 

This land her Steele and Addison shall view, 
The former glories equall'd by the new; 
Some future Shakespeare charm the rising age, 
And hold in magic charm the listening stage; 
Another Watts shall string the heavenly lyre, 
And other muses other bards inspire. 7 

In spite of many flaws and some puerility, this 
essay was remarkable for its purity and directness 
of diction, in contrast with the cumbrous, pedantic 
form of many contemporary writers. That it 
attracted more than usual interest, at the time it 
was read, is attested by a notice in the Connecti- 
cut Journal, September 30, 1770. 8 After com- 
menting on the essay as the chief feature of the 
commencement programme, the editor eulogized 
its author, but chose, unfortunately, his verse 
rather than his prose for special praise : 

Immortal Pope ! thy son immortal see ; 
He treads the steps that once were trod by thee; 
All that for future times he bids us hope, 
We see in him as England saw in POPE. 

This essay was not the first venture in Addi- 
sonian prose by Trumbull. He had written 
anonymously in favor of a study of modern litera-i 
ture, as a means of creating a progressive spiril; 

7 hoc. cit., p. 15. 

8 Not November 30, as cited by Tyler, Literary History 01 
the Revolution, Vol. I, p. 210. , 



JOHN TRUMBULL 115 

at the colleges. With earnestness, lightened by 
mild ridicule, he wrote several editorials, 
signed "The Meddler," for the Boston Chronicle, 
from September, 1769, to January, 1770. The 
errors of the day in educational ideas and in social 
standards, as well as the religious narrowness, all 
came under his censure. To relieve heaviness, 
he introduced a few satiric sketches, like that of 
Jack Dapperwit, who had later companions in The 
Progress of Dulness. 9 "Wit; True and False," 
and the abuses of newspaper writing, were treated 
with frankness. 10 Some of the articles were 
signed "The Schemer," an ally of "The Med- 
dler." All had the same aim, announced with 
the confidence of youth — "assistance, (however 
trifling soever it may be) towards instructing the 
ignorant, diverting and improving the learned, 
rectifying the taste and manners of the times, and 
cultivating the fine arts of theTa'n^^ 

The first essay by "The Meddler" 11 struck the 
keynote of the series in a remonstrance against 
the shams and veneer of life, versus its realities. 
As an example, he cited the fashion of publication 

9 Progress of Dulness, etc. (1772) ; see later pages of this 
chapter. 

10 "The Meddler," II, Boston Chronicle, September 14-18, 
1769. Some of these papers were probably written by 
Timothy Dwight and other friends of Trumbull, but his ideas 
and style are recognized in many. 

11 Boston Chronicle, September 4-7, 1769. 



n6 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

then in vogue, with a caricature of the author's 
entrance in a grand "equipage" and heralded by 
a pompous preface. With ridicule he concluded : 

And sometimes for our further information, a curious 
frontispiece is engraved, containing an elegant portrait of 
the Author, surrounded with antique symbols, and alle- 
gorical devices ; such as Minerva, Apollo or some other of 
their Godships, standing by him with a label of "Hie est 
mens" or something familiar hanging out at their mouths. 

Again, he was ironical regarding the so-called 
"gentlemanly qualifications" — extravagant man- 
ners and dress, dancing, complimenting, cursing, 
drinking, gaming, etc. 12 In contrast was the atti- 
tude of the day toward the cultivation of a love 
for letters : 

Poetry is indeed much neglected in this age, being 
looked upon as the lowest qualification of a gentleman. 
Under this head, as I am an advocate for the moderns, I 
will make use of the best arguments I can in their favour. 
It is a well-known maxim that every poet is a fool: if 
this be true, I believe that no one, who has read thus far, 
can doubt of our qualification for that office. 

Such an anticlimax was often used by Trumbull, 
with humorous effect. 

"The Schemer" delighted to satirize the artful- 
ness of the young ladies, who resorted to silly 
schemes to captivate the men. Behind clever 
parody was an earnest remonstrance against the 
mere "accomplishments" which formed the usual 

12 "The Schemer," ibid., December 18, 1769. 



JOHN TRUMBULL 117 

education of women of that period, leaving their 
minds vacant and fickle. In burlesque, appeared 
the following "Advertisement" : 

To Be Sold at Public Vendue, 

The Whole Estate of 
Isabelle Sprightly, Toast and Coquette, 

(Now retiring from business) 

This announcement was followed by a detailed 
list of her "Tools and Utensils" — darts, arrows, 
patches, cosmetics, caps, Cupids, and other adorn- 
ments, "very proper to be stationed on a ruby lip, 
a diamond eye, or a roseate cheek." 13 

These newspaper essays, written while Trum- 
bull was still a student at Yale studying for his 
second degree, were followed by others of similar 
tone in the Connecticut Journal, during the spring 
of 1770, under the signature of "The Corre- 
spondent." The authors treated many of the same 
topics as before, but wrote with more boldness 
and conviction upon certain other interests of the 
day, as second-sight, palmistry, the morality of 
dancing, and the promotion of the slave-trade by 
"so-called Christians." 

Such ventures in authorship, and the liberal, 
fearless ideas there advocated, called popular at- 
tention to the young man, who had amazed New 

15 Boston Chronicle, October 23-26, 1769, signed "B." This 
cannot be proved to be Trumbull's, but bears close relation- 
ship to his later satires. 



Ii8 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Haven professors by his brilliant scholarship as 
a boy. With wisdom, as was proved in his 
mature life, he chose to study law, since devotion 
to letters would bring meager return as a life- 
profession. For this purpose he went to 
Wethersfield for a year; but the reading of law 
was somewhat interrupted, for he was called back 
to Yale as tutor. He continued his studies for 
the profession, however, and became a successful 
lawyer and judge. 

Meantime the progressive spirit at Yale, advo- 
cated by the younger graduates, had gained the 
ascendency. The autumn of 1771 found three 
young tutors at the college, men of reforming 
zeal and popularity — Joseph Howe, Timothy 
Dwight, and John Trumbull. The beauty of 
Howe's character called forth tributes from his 
parishioners in Boston, where he preached for a 
brief while before his death in 1775. With less 
alertness and confidence than Trumbull and 
Dwight, Howe was a very popular teacher at 
Yale and awakened noble ambition in the souls of 
his pupils. The effect of his benign personality 
upon Trumbull was expressed in the closing lines 
of the latter's "Ode to Sleep" : 

Teach me, like thee, to feel and know 
Our humble station in this vale of woe, 
Twilight of life, illumed with feeble ray, 
The infant dawning of eternal day; 



JOHN TRUMBULL 119 

With heart expansive through this scene improve 
The social soul of harmony and love. 14 



During Trumbull's two years of teaching at 
Yale he devoted himself to both law and litera- 
ture. His capacity for mental work was phe- 
nomenal throughout his life. By the students he 
was considered a man of marvelous brain-power ; 
but he was also a social favorite. Among the 
boys he was familiarly called "Trum." In a 
romance which reveals truthfully the life at Yale 
during the years just prior to the war, James 
Eugene Farmer has devoted one chapter to "An 
Evening with Trumbull." 15 There are also vivid 
glimpses in this story of popular students like 
Nathan Hale and David Humphreys. In this 
fictional narrative the students are listening with 
delight to Trumbull's reading from two incom- 
plete satires. One of these was The Advertise- 
ment of a Coquette, already quoted, and the other 
was the first part of The Progress of Dulness. 

The question has been asked, by Tyler and 
other critics, whether satire was a natural or an 
accidental form of literary expression on the part 
of Trumbull. He once asserted that his native 

u The Poetical Works of John Trumbull (1820), Vol. II, 
p. 120. 

15 James Eugene Farmer, Brinton Eliot; from Yale to York- 
town, (New York, 1902), part I, chap. 7. 



120 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

taste was imaginative rather than satirical, and 
that the latter trend came from the political con- 
ditions which confronted and stirred him. Evi- 
dence from his literary efforts of varied types, and 
also from reading some of his keen, satiric 
pleas and letters, seems to indicate that satire was 
a legitimate expression of his witty, penetrating 
mind. Doubtless it was fostered both by the 
political conflict, and also by his devotion to the 
English essayists of satirical form. Before the 
patriotic impulse had awakened within him, he 
had chosen to write in burlesque and satire. Un- 
like Freneau, he showed no proof of a poetic 
temperament, before or after the stress of war 
and national federation. His work that has lived 
in memory has been that of the satirist and 
scholar. His only attempts at verse of lyrical 
kind were labored and stilted. 

Among his burlesques, The Progress of Dul- 
ness will take rank as inventive and forceful. 16 
This was conceived when the leaders of pro- 

16 The title-page of the first part of The Progress of 
Dulness is unique and interesting : "Part First : or the 
Rare Adventures of Tom Brainless ; shewing What 
his Father and Mother said of him ; how he went to 
College, and what he learned there ; how he took his 
Degree, and went to keeping School ; how afterwards he 
became a great man and wore a wig ; and how any body else 
may do the same. The like never before published. Very 
proper to be kept in all Families." (1772.) 



JOHN TRUMBULL 121 

gressive methods in education, among whom was 
Trumbull, were trying to overthrow prejudices 
and false standards at Yale. The satire was in 
octosyllabic meter, in three parts, published at 
intervals of a few months. The first issue told of 
the career of Tom Brainless, a dull lad who had 
been sent to college to fritter time away upon 
stilted, uninspiring texts. He succeeded in "hood- 
winking" professors, so that he was passed 
through college and entered the school of the- 
ology. With the same spiritless, droning routine, 
he became a minister. In his pulpit he is thus 
portrayed : 

In awkward tones, nor said nor sung, 
Slow rumbling o'er the faltering tongue, 
Two hours his drawling speech holds on, 
And names it preaching when 'tis done. 

The type of the teacher unworthy the name was 
also satirized : 

Then throned aloft in elbow chair, 

With solemn face and awful air, 

He tries, with ease and unconcern, 

To teach what ne'er himself could learn; 

Gives law and punishment alone, 

Judge, jury, bailiff all in one; 

Holds all good learning must depend 

Upon his rod's extremest end, 

Whose great electric virtue's such 

Each genius brightens at the touch; 

With threats and blows, incitements pressing, 



122 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Drives on his lads to learn each lesson, 

Thinks flogging cures all moral ills 

And breaks their heads to break their wills. 

Beside this dull master of the rod is the teacher 
who was long known as "the book-worm," thus 
portrayed with justice as well as wit : 

Read ancient authors o'er in vain, 
Nor taste one beauty they contain, 
And plodding on in one dull tone, 
Gain ancient tongues and lose their own. 17 

The first part of this burlesque was reprinted, 
in a corrected edition, the year after its appear- 
ance. In a preface note, Trumbull explained its 
purport thus: 

The subject is the state of the times in regard to litera- 
ture and religion. The author was prompted to write by 
a hope that it might be of use to point out, in a clear, con- 
cise, and striking manner, those general errors, that hinder 
the advantages of education, and the growth of piety. 
The subject is inexhaustible; nor is my design yet com- 
pleted. 18 

As proof of the last sentence, he published this 
same year, 1773, the second part of the burlesque. 
Here the character ridiculed was Dick Hairbrain, 
antitype of the first dull collegian, but equally 
familiar then and today. His foppish airs, his 

17 The Poetical Works of John Trumbull (1820), Vol. II, 
p. 17. 

18 The Progress of Dulness, etc., Reprinted in the Year 
MDCC, LXXIII, Preface, p. 2. 



JOHN TRUMBULL 123 

feather brain, his swagger and swearing, his 
skeptical opinions exploited after a hasty reading 
of Hume and Voltaire — such qualities were de- 
lineated with keen, biting sarcasm. The style in 
this part was more earnest than in the earlier 
issue. There were lines of moral teaching, 
mingled with the portrayal of the rakish student : 

More oaths than words Dick learned to speak, 
And studied knavery more than Greek. 

The career of this young man abroad, his excesses 
and failures to win respect or success, are told 
with vividness, until 

In lonely age he sinks forlorn, 

Of all, and even himself, the scorn. 19 

To complete the trilogy of characters, mis- 
guided and educated according to wrong stand- 
ards, Trumbull introduced in the third part Miss 
Harriet Simper, a vain coquette. In a preface 
the author affirmed "that the foibles we discover 
in the fair sex arise principally from the neglect 
of their education, and the mistaken notions they 
imbibe in their early youth." The same thought 
was thus expressed in ironical verse : 

And why should girls be learn'd or wise? 
Books only serve to spoil their eyes. 
The studious eye but faintly twinkles, 
And reading paves the way to wrinkles. 

19 The Progress of Dulness, Part II, "Life and Character 
of Dick Hairbrain" (New Haven, 1773), p. 38. 



124 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

To give a touch of romantic unity, Trumbull 
depicted his coquette in various flirtations; 
she is scorned by Dick Hairbrain and marries 
Tom Brainless, to escape the "stigma of being an 
old maid." 20 

This burlesque was popular as a production of 
wit, and it exerted no little influence as a rebuke 
to the conditions of the time which fostered such 
drones, fops, and coquettes. The pages contain 
some pictures of society and epigrams which are 
relevant today, as : 

Follies be multiplied with quickness, 
And whims keep up the family likeness. 

Good sense, like fruit, is rais'd by toil, 
But follies sprout in every soil. 21 

After two years as teacher at Yale, Trumbull 
passed his law examinations. Possibly in order 
that he might have a wider contact with men of 
affairs, he went to Boston, in November, 1773, to 

20 In the complete poem the third part reads : "Some- 
times called The Progress of Coquetry, or the Adventures of 
Miss Harriet Simper, of the Colony of Connecticut." In the 
preface the author expresses his desire "to laugh at with good 
humor, and to expose without malevolence." Of the young 
lady's mother he writes : 

From whom her faults that never vary, 

May come by right hereditary. 
The Progress of Dulness, or the Rare Adventures of Tom 
Brainless. By the celebrated author of McFINGAL. Printed 
at Exeter. 3 parts. MDCCXCIV. 72 pages ; i6mo. 

21 The Progress of Dulness (1794), pp. 49, S3- 



JOHN TRUMBULL 125 

the law office of John Adams. This year gave 
new impulse to his interests and literary activities. 
He had taken a mild part in urging freedom of 
expression in America and had praised the tend- 
ency toward resistance. Now he came into per- 
sonal contact with statesmen who had already 
shown their radical opposition to the Stamp Act 
and other measures of injustice. Soon after he 
reached Boston, the affair of the tea-ships took 
place, and the military discipline directed against 
Boston increased the political ferment. All these 
steps, tending toward independence and war, must 
have impressed a young man so keen and zealous 
for reform as Trumbull was. His legal chief, 
John Adams, was recognized as one of the lead- 
ers among the patriots and was sent to Phila- 
delphia to attend the Continental Congress of 
1774 while Trumbull was in his office. 

The influence of these agitations, and the 
political principles involved, may be read in the 
literary work of Trumbull during this year and 
the following. His first writing in verse, "The 
Destruction of Babylon" 22 was probably only the 
completion of an earlier effort. With the excep- 
tion of a few lines, which might be applied to the 

22 This paraphrase of the thirteenth and fourteenth chap- 
ters in Isaiah and the eighteenth in Revelations was included 
in The Poetical Works of John Trumbull (1820), Vol. II, 
pp. 195-201. 



126 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

situation in Boston and the incipient thought of 
freedom, the poem showed no distinct marks of 
its author's environment. At about the same time 
he wrote certain light fables in verse, as "The 
Owl and the Sparrow" and "To a Young Lady 
Who Requested the Author to draw Her 
Character." These are merely occasional verses, 
with bits of covert sarcasm. 

Quite a new spirit permeates "An Elegy on 
the Times," which was first printed at Boston, 
September, 1774. 23 The author said that it was 
written soon after the Boston Port Bill. It had 
a tone of sadness as well as of courage, as if 
Trumbull still hoped that the worst might be 
averted, but, if necessary, he would defend his 
country's rights with his pen. A few stanzas 
show the deepening zeal of this awakened patriot : 

In vain we hope from ministerial pride 

A hand to save us or a heart to bless : 
'Tis strength, our own, must stem the rushing tide, 

'Tis our own virtue must command success. 

Then, tell us, NORTH, for thou art sure to know, 
For have not kings and fortunes made thee great; 

Or lurks not wisdom in th' ennobled brow, 
And dwells no prescience in the robes of state? 

And tell how rapt by freedom's sacred flame 
And fost'ring influence of propitious skies, 

23 Published in Boston, 1774; in New Haven, 1775. 



JOHN TRUMBULL 127 

This western world, the last recess of fame, 
Sees in her wilds a new-born empire rise, — 

A new-born empire whose ascendant hour 

Defies its foes, assembled to destroy, 
And like Alcides, with its infant power 

Shall crush those serpents, who its rest annoy. 2 * 

These stanzas seem faulty judged by poetical 
canons, but they were superior to the majority 
of verses of these years. Philip Freneau's best 
satires began to appear within a few months, but 
Trumbull preceded in literary evidence of patriot- 
ism, combined with keen wit. By his contempo- 
raries he was called "the finest satirical lance of 
the age," and was urged to write yet other poems 
for the cause of freedom. He had come into 
friendly relations with James Otis, John Han- 
cock, John Adams, and Thomas Cushing. The 
influence of these patriots doubtless incited 
Trumbull to the burlesque stanzas which were 
afterward expanded into his masterpiece of satire, 
"M'Fingal." To the Marquis de Chastelleux, 
after M'Fingal had become known in Europe as 
well as in America, Trumbull wrote that "it was 
written merely with a political view, at the insti- 
gation of some of the leading members of the 
first Congress who urged me to compose a 

24 The Poetical Works (1820), Vol. II, pp. 208-17. 



I28]|HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

satirical poem upon the events of the campaign 

ofi775-" 25 

Parts of this satire were written during the 
latter part of 1774 and at intervals in 1775. 
Although the first edition bears the date of pub- 
lication 1775, it was really issued in January, 
1776. The bravado of General Gage had 
weakened somewhat after the evidence of 
bravery, as well as defiance, on the part of the 
beleaguered Bostonians. To quell their patriotic 
zeal and still protect himself, he began issuing 
proclamations, some intimidating, others with a 
patronizing note that was almost insulting. These 
may be found in all the leading newspapers of the 
time. They gave incentive to the first political 
lampoons and satires by both Trumbull and 
Freneau. The former contributed to the Con- 
necticut C our ant, August, 7 and 14, 1775, an 
unsigned parody upon Gage's proclamations, that 
contains lines almost identical with his later 
passage in the second canto of M'Fingal: 
The annals of his first great year; 
While wearying out the Tories' patience, 
He spent his breath in proclamation; 
While all his mighty noise and vapour 
Was used in wrangling upon paper. 

25 J. Hammond Trumbull, "The Origin of M'Fingal,' 
Historical Magazine, January, 1 868 ; see also letter by Trum 
bull on subject to Silas Deane, Deane Papers, Vol. II, pp 
88-9, New York Historical Society Collections. 



JOHN TRUMBULL 129 

J. Hammond Trumbull, in his study of "The 
Origin of M'Fingal," has suggested that possibly 
Trumbull wrote the parody upon Gage's procla- 
mation beginning, 

TOM GAGE'S PROCLAMATION, 
Or blustering Denunciation, 

which appeared in the Connecticut Courant, July 
*7> I 775- A s has been stated in the chapter on 
Freneau, the weight of evidence, as given by Mr. 
Paltsits, both in his bibliography of Freneau and 
in a private letter, would seem to disprove the 
possibility that this was Trumbull's, for it had 
appeared in Philadelphia and New York papers 
before it was printed in those of Connecticut. 

The first canto of M'Fingal, published in Phila- 
delphia, was soon circulated through the news- 
papers and reprinted in several editions. It was 
viewed with dismay by the British leaders, for it 
was too popular to be counteracted by any Tory 
satire. 26 The second canto came within the year 
1776, but the third part was deferred until 1782. 

M'Fingal, the Loyalist, is a well-conceived and 
sustained character. His introduction was pre- 
:eded by a few lines of general ridicule: 

When Yankees, skill'd in martial rule, 
First put the British troops to school; 

26 The effect of this satire was cumulative. It appeared 
lear the time of Hopkinson's A Pretty Story and A Prophecy, 
nd Thomas Paine's Common Sense. 



130 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Instructed them in warlike trade, 
And new manoevres. of parade, 
The true war-dance of Yankee reels, 
And manual exercise of heels; 
Made them give up, like saints complete, 
The arm of flesh, and trust the feet. 
And work like Christians undissembling, 
Salvation out by fear and trembling; 
Taught Percy fashionable races 
And modern modes of Chevy-Chases; 
From Boston, in his best array, 
Great Squire M'Fingal took his way, 
And grac'd with ensigns of renown, 
Steer d homeward to his native town. 

His fathers flourished in the Highlands 
Of Scotia's fog-benighted islands ; 
Whence gained our Squire two gifts by right, 
Rebellion and the Second-sight. 27 

In contrast with M'Fingal was the character 
of Honorius, the staunch Whig, generally con-j 
sidered a portrait of John Adams. In the scene 
of the town-meeting, which has its forenoon anc 
afternoon sessions respectively in Cantos I anc 
II, Honorius speaks boldly regarding the arro- ! 
gance and injustice of England and her declim 
in power. Gage had explained to various colonia, 
officers, among them Governor Trumbull of Con 
necticut, that he sent his troops to Concord merelj 
"to prevent a civil war." This statement wa 

27 M'Fingal: A Modern Epic Poem, Canto I, p. 4. 



m'fing a l: 



A MODERN 

EPIC POEM. 

CANTO FIRST, 

O R 

The TOWN -MEETING, 

PHILADELPHIA:. 

Printed and Sold by William and T>jcuas Brad- 
ford, auhe London Coffee. Houfc, 



Title-page of first edition of M' Fin gal; from copy in Watkin- 
son Library, Hartford, Conn. 



JOHN TRUMBULL 131 

used with caustic effect in the speech of Honorius, 
in Canto II : 

There, when the war he chose to wage, 
Shone the benevolence of Gage; 
Sent troops to that ill-omen'd place, 
On errands mere of special grace; 
And all the work he chose them for, 
Was to prevent a civil war. 
For which kind purpose he projected 
The truly certain way t' effect it, 
To seize your powder, shot and arms, 
And all your means of doing harms; 
As prudent folks take knives away, 
Lest children cut themselves at play. 
And yet, when this was all his scheme, 
The war you still will charge on him; 
And tho' he oft has sworn and said it, 
Stick close to facts and give no credit. 

In a fractious temper, M'Fingal tries to re- 
pond, taunting the Whigs with both cowardice 
:nd foolishness. Interrupted by sharp questions 
.nd sarcasms from Honorius, he pleads in vain 
he cause of British justice. At last, recognizing 
hat he is losing ground, he passes into a trance 
'f second-sight, and depicts his vision of the 
;rand rewards assured to the Tories who will 
tand by their king in the conflict. In the great 
ay of British victory — 

Whigs subdued, in slavish awe, 

Our wood shall hew, our water draw, 



132 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

And bless that mildness, when past hope, 
Which sav'd their necks from noose of rope. 28 

By this speech of M'Fingal, Honorius has 
gained a point — exposure of the greed and dis- 
loyalty of the Tories — and he breaks forth into 
an eloquent plea for patriotism. M'Fingal and 
his friends find their only resource in stirring up a 
riot by hisses; and thus ends the town-meeting. 29 

When this satire, of fifteen hundred lines, was 
reprinted in Hartford, London, Boston, and 
elsewhere, it attracted universal attention. In 
England there was much speculation as to its 
authorship. It was accredited to Butler and other 
wits. Some affirmed that it was the work of a 
British officer who had been superseded in com- 
mand, and who chose this method of venting his 
wrath. In the "Memoir" to his Poetical Works, 
Trumbull referred to the various surmises regard- 
ing the authorship of "M'Fingal," and said that 
there were ascribed to him 
Jests he ne'er uttered, deeds he ne'er atchiev'd, 
Rhymes he ne'er wrote, and lives (thank heaven) he never 

lived. 30 

28 M'Fingal, a Modern Epic Poem, Canto II, p. 41. The 
name was from Fingal, an epic poem by Ossian, published by 
MacPherson. 

29 It was stated that forty editions of the first two cantos 
were printed. One of the best collections of editions is in tht 
Watkinson Library of Hartford. Several are also found ir 
the Library of Congress, Brown University, and elsewhere. 

30 The Poetical Works of John Trumbull, "Memoir," p. 8 



JOHN TRUMBULL 133 

The fact that Trumbull was the author of this 
satire was known, however, long before the third 
canto was written. This came in response to a 
popular demand. There he depicted his Scottish 
orator as seized by a mob and tried by a hastily 
convened court at the foot of a Liberty Pole; he 
was convicted of Toryism, and condemned to a 
coat of tar and feathers. The illustration of this 
scene in later editions was rude, but vigorous. 
In the last canto the once vain-glorious leader of 
the Loyalists had assembled his anxious, dwind- 
ling followers to cheer them with another vision. 
Meanwhile, the entrance of the Whig forces 
scattered the company, and the frightened 
M'Fingal escaped to Boston. 

The last portion of the satire was weak, in 
contrast with the earlier, spirited cantos, al- 
though there were two passages of clever con- 
struction. The first was the famous scene of the 
tar-and-feather process, once so popular as a 
means of punishment. This description by Trum- 
bull was long a favorite "piece" for recital by 
schoolboy orators : 

So from the high-raised urn the torrents 
Spread down his sides their various currents : 
His flowing wig, as next the brim, 
First met and drank the sable stream ; 
Adown his visage stern and grave 
Roll'd and adhered the viscid wave; 



134 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

With arms depending as he stood, 
Each cuff capacious holds the flood : 
From nose and chin's remotest end 
The tarry icicles descend; 
Till, all o'erspread, with colors gay, 
He glittered to the Western ray 
Like sleet-bound trees in wintry skies, 
Or Lapland idol carved in ice. 
And now the feather-bag display'd 
Is waved in triumph o'er his head, 
And clouds him o'er with feathers missive 
And, down upon the tar adhesive: 
Not Maia's son, with wings for ears, 
Such plumage round his visage wears ; 
Not Milton's six-wing'd angel gathers 
Such superfluity of feathers. 31 

There is more wit and ease in the second 
familiar portion, where M'Fingal makes his 
recantation, to escape from the taunts of the 
patriots : 

I here renounce the Pope, the Turks, 
The King, the Devil and all their works; 
And will, set me but once again at ease, 
Turn Whig or Christian, what you please. 32 

This satire, as a whole, may be censured for 
many offenses against literary taste and man^ 
examples of strained meter. It must be regarded, 
however, not as a finished poem, like Butler's 
"Hudibras" or Churchill's "The Ghost," although 

31 M'Fingal, Canto III, pp. 61, 62. 

32 Ibid., p. 59. 



JOHN TRUMBULL 135 

it resembles these in form. It was a hastily writ- 
ten weapon of warfare. Its purpose was utilitar- 
ian and its effect upon the contending parties 
cannot be overstated. It represented progressive 
patriotism against reactionary fears. Few writ- 
ings of that day reached such a wide circulation. 
It was reprinted in piratical editions until, we 
are told, it brought about, in 1783, the passage of 
an "Act for the Encouragement of Literature 
and Genius," by the General Assembly of Con- 
necticut, which secured to authors their copy- 
rights within the state. 33 

While we recognize the specific aim of this 
burlesque and its immediate service to patriotism, 
we still find, within its lines, atmosphere and 
silhouettes of characters of the past which are 
well worth remembrance, apart from its purpose. 
Not alone external pictures of the times are here, 
but also a clear presentation of the mental pro- 
cesses of Whig and Tory, in the period which pre- 
ceded secession. If the humor is broad and the 
words often uncouth, such were the traits of the 
classes which were represented — the sturdy, un- 
educated farmers, the rude soldiers, the black- 
smiths, storekeepers, and other characters of 
early village life in America. 

33 This assertion is made by J. Hammond Trumbull in 
The Memorial History of Hartford County (1886), note to p. 
157, Vol. I. 



136 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Donald G. Mitchell has said, with unique 
appreciation of this satire : 

It has a sportive, easy, rollicking flow. There's no 
dreaming in it; there's no swashy sentiment; it does not 
stay to moralize; it goes on its rhythmic and satiric beat — 
as steady and sure and effective as a patent threshing- 
machine. For an American it should make more piquant 
reading than Butler's "Hudibras." 34 

Although it bore such a close resemblance to 
"Hudibras" that, before its authorship was de- 
termined, some couplets were confidently asserted 
to be Butler's, yet it has a strong individuality. 
Regarding the method of writing, Trumbull ex- 
plained, in a letter to the Marquis de Chastelleux : 

I determined to describe every subject in the manner 
it struck my own imagination, and without confining 
myself to a perpetual effort at wit, drollery and humour, l 
indulge every variety of manner, as my subject varied, 
and insert all ridicule, satire, sense, sprightliness and 
elevation, of which I was master." M 

John Trumbull was only twenty-five when the 
best part of M'Fingal was written, and he lived 

34 D. G. Mitchell, American Lands and Letters, Vol. I, pp. i 
158, 159. Mr. Mitchell recalls the popularity of this burlesque 
in the days of his boyhood. 

35 J. Hammond Trumbull, "The Origin of M'Fingal," 
Historical Magazine, January, 1868. "Time has a little blunted 
the edge of McFingal, yet it remains the best of American 
political satires in verse, with the possible exception of \ 
The Biglow Papers" — so says J. Hammond Trumbull in The 
Memorial History of Hartford County, Vol. I, p. 158. 



JOHN TRUMBULL 137 

past eighty years; yet he is known to history as 
the author of that satire. The later events of his 
life were personal in the main, and only indirectly 
associated with political history. That he had a 
prominent part in the writings of "the Hartford 
wits," in behalf of internal harmony and federal- 
ism, will be indicated in the next chapter. How- 
ever, this service was done in collaboration, and 
his special writings have only been partially iden- 
tified. "The Genius of America," an ode of thir- 
teen stanzas, written in 1777 after the capture of 
Burgoyne, was included in Trumbull's Poetical 
Works, but it has slight value either as a his- 
torical record or as poetry. His earlier fame, 
nevertheless, clung to him among his Connecticut 
friends, and he was generally considered the 
leader of the patriot-wits of Hartford. With ex- 
travagant tribute, Timothy Dwight testified to 
this leadership, in his "Epistle to Col. Humph- 
reys," in 1785 : 
Hence, too, when Trumbull leads the ardent throng, 
Ascending bards begin the immortal song: 
Let glowing friendship wake the cheerful lyre, 
Blest to commend, and pleas'd to catch the fire. M 

In spite of such excursions into literature, 
Trumbull's mature success was achieved in law. 
After his return from Boston in 1776, and his 
marriage to Sarah, daughter of Leverett Hub- 

88 American Poems, Selected and Original (1793), p. 83. 



138 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

bard, of New Haven, he practiced law in New 
Haven and Waterbury. The next few years must 
have been full of trial, for he was frequently ill, 
largely from excess of nervous activity. In 1780 
he was considered fatally sick, but he recovered 
and moved to Hartford for his future home. 
Here he held positions of honor. He was attor- 
ney for the County of Hartford, member of the 
state legislature, and, in 1808, was appointed 
judge of the Supreme Court of Errors and served 
until 1 8 19. 

The judicial appointment of Trumbull and his 
highly-rated literary cleverness aroused some 
envy among the less fortunate of his political 
opponents. Evidence of this is found in a 
pamphlet entitled "Federalism Triumphant in the 
Steady Habits of Connecticut Alone, or, the 
Turnpike Road to a Fortune." This was called 
"A Comic Opera, or Political Farce in Six Acts, 
as performed at the Theatres Royal and Aristo- 
cratic at Hartford and New Haven, October, 
1 80 1." It was printed the next year. One of the 
leading characters is "John M'Fingal, a Poet,- 
late Student with J. Adams." With sarcasm, 
the author of this farce depicts Trumbull seeking 
in every way to gain influence with political lead- 
ers, especially with "Jonathan," easily recognized 
as Governor Jonathan Trumbull, that the judi- 
ciary may be increased and his place secured. In 



JOHN TRUMBULL 139 

soliloquy, he is represented as saying (pp. 17, 18) 
"I must not dip my pen, until I've got through 
that judiciary bill, — suppress my wit & satire till 
that bill is passed, and get the appointment, and 
then and not till then may my vein of humour be 
indulged." 

A note supplies the somewhat sneering infor- 
mation that, ''It's universally known that John 
Trumbull wrote M'Fingal and sundry other 
poetic pieces of merit, obtained a law for a patent, 
for books, maps, charts, etc., has piddled occa- 
sionally at Hartford in the New Year addresses 
of the boys who carries (sic) the papers, and that 
when elected member for Hartford he assisted 
Noah in the answer to Hamilton's development 
of Adams' imbecility. He supposed himself cun- 
ning in all writings." 

This reference to the assistance given by 
Trumbull to Noah Webster, in the latter's writ- 
ing, is verified by a statement frequently made 
that Trumbull was of great value to Webster in 
the compilation of the latter's Dictionary. These 
facts and reminiscences have been given by Trum- 
bull's grandson (Mr. Dudley Bradstreet Wood- 
bridge, of Groose Pointe Farms, Michigan, to 
whom I am much indebted) . Webster and Trum- 
bull were good friends and the latter's classical 
education amazed Webster, so he called upon his 
friend to revise almost every sheet of the Diction- 



140 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

ary, as it came from the printer, especially relying 
upon his knowledge of derivations. 

Another friend of Trumbull, who won fame, 
was Mrs. Lydia Huntley Sigourney. Trum- 
bull's grandson has recalled that Mrs. Sigourney 
was the daughter of a Revolutionary soldier, 
who lived in a cottage adjoining Trumbull's 
estate. The little girl, Lydia, interested the 
judge and scholar, and he taught her many 
things from nature and books: "seeing she 
had a natural talent for poetry he bent her 
mind in that direction. She would write little 
rhymes and he would correct them for her, 
and point out all the errors, until she became 
fascinated with the writing of verse." After the 
death of Trumbull, Mrs. Sigourney sent to his 
daughter, Mrs. Woodbridge, a tribute in prose 
and verse from which the following is an extract, 
given by Mr. Woodbridge: the poem is a vision 
of Trumbull in his later years at Detroit. 

"To the memory of the Hon. John Trumbull, 
Author of M'Fingal, and other poems; a native 
of Connecticut: who died at Detroit, Michigan: 
a tribute to the memory of one who was no less 
the pride of his native State than of his Country; 
the patriotic bard, who having left among his 
native hills the thrilling Harp which had ani 
mated every camp, and enlivened every cottage, 
till its notes resounded across the Atlantic." 



JOHN TRUMBULL 141 

This was he 
Whose shaft of wit had touch'd the epic strain 
With poignant power. The Father of the Harp 
In his own native vales. He seems to muse 
As if those loved retreats did spread themselves 
Again before his eye. The sighing wind 
Through the long branches of those ancient trees 
When first his boyhood lisp'd the love of Song 
Doth lull his soul. There brighter visions gleam, 
A sound of music rises. 'Tis thy voice Connecticut 
As when by vernal rains 

Surcharged, it swells in tuneful murmurs round 
The vine-clad mansion where his children grew. 
But the hoarse clangor of yon mighty Lakes 
Holding high conflict with the winged Storm 

Doth quell its melody. 

And is it so 
That in the feebleness of four-score years 
Thou with unshrinking hand didst pitch thy tent 
Near the broad billows of the Michigan 
And mark in that far land young life start forth 
In beauty and in vigor and in power 
Where erst the Indian, and the Panther dwelt 
Sole lords. It was a bold emprize 
To change the robe of science and of mistrelsy 
Worn from thy cradle onward 
For the staff of the strong emigrant. 

Master and friend; until this feeble lyre 
In silence moulders, till my heart forgets 
The thrill of gratitude, the love of song, 
The praise of knowledge, shall thine image dwell 
Bright with the beauty of benignant age 
In my soul's temple-shrine! 



142 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

In spite of his vivacity and power of accom- 
plishment, Trumbull was compelled to do his 
work with ill-health constantly against him. He 
visited mineral springs and gained temporary 
relief. After such respite from suffering he 
would work with marvelous energy, and thus 
compensate for lost time. Among the manu- 
script letters in the Oliver Wolcott, Jr., papers, 
at the Connecticut Historical Society, is one from 
Dr. Lemuel Hopkins to Wolcott, written in; 
June, 1795, which contains an interesting refer- 
ence to Trumbull and his physical condition : 37 

Trumbull will, I fear, within a year or two, quit "the 
visible diurnal sphere." What, then, O Hartford, hast 
thou for me? Pleasant indeed shalt thou remain, but ' 
chiefly for the joys that are past. 

Another letter, in the same collection, from ' 
Trumbull to Wolcott, has been printed, but, as 
it is one of the few extant letters by Trumbull, ijjH 
is valuable as a revelation of his personality. 38 
Under date of December 9, 1789, from Hartford, 
Trumbull wrote : 

37 Dr. Hopkins was one of the collaborators with Trumbull 
and his friends, mentioned in the next chapter. The date of 
this letter was June 28, 1795. It is printed by permission 
of the Connecticut Historical Society. 

88 Printed in Memoirs of the Administrations of Wash- 
ington and John Adams, Edited from the Papers of Olivet 
Wolcott, Secretary of the Treasury (1840), Vol. I, pp. 25, 26. 



JOHN TRUMBULL 143 

I received yours by Dr. Coggswell, who appears a sen- 
sible, agreeable young man, & I am glad that he pro- 
poses to settle in Hartford. Indeed our circle of friends 
wants new recruits. Humphreys, Barlow and you are lost 
to us. — Dr Hopkins has an itch of running away to New 
York, but I trust his indolence will prevent him. How- 
ever, if you should catch him in your City, I desire you 
to take him up & return him or secure him so that we 
may have him again, for which you shall have sixpence 
reward, & all charges 

I cannot conceive what Barlow is doing — After being 
eighteen months abroad, you tell me he has got so far as to 
see favorable prospects. If he should not affect some- 
thing to the purpose soon, I would advise him to write 
'The Vision of Barlow," as a sequel to those of Columbus 
and M'Fingal. 

When Trumbull was seventy-five years old, 
and had survived nearly all of his associates in 
Connecticut, he left Hartford to spend his last 
years in Detroit, which then seemed on the bor- 
derland of the far West. Here he lived with his 
daughter, Mrs William Woodbridge, until his 
death in 1831. This experience gave him an 
opportunity to realize the growth of the nation 
which he had served in its infancy, and he re- 
joiced in all marks of progress. When he passed 
through New York, on his way to Detroit, a 
banquet was given in his honor by lawyers and 
men of letters. At the same time his poems, in 
two volumes, were printed by his friend, S. G. 
Goodrich, better known to his own day as "Peter 






144 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Parley." In his Recollections of a Lifetime, Mr. 
Goodrich thus commented upon this publication: 
About this time I published an edition of Trumbull's 
poems, in two volumes octavo, and paid him a thousand 
dollars and a hundred copies of the work for the copy- 
right. I was seriously counselled against this by several 
book-sellers — in fact, Trumbull had sought a publisher in 
vain, for several years previous. There was an associa- 
tion of designers and engravers at Hartford, called the 
Graphic Company, and as I desired to patronize the liberal 
arts there, I employed them to execute the embellish- 
ments. For so considerable an enterprise I took the pre- 
caution to get a subscription, in which I was tolerably 
successful. The work was at last produced, but it did 
not come up to the public expectation, or the patriotic 
zeal had cooled, and more than half the subscribers de- 
clined taking the work. I did not press it, but putting a 
good face upon the affair, I let it pass and — while the 
public supposed I had made money by my enterprise, 
and even the author looked askance at me in the jeal- 
ous apprehension that I had made too good a bargain 
out of him — I quietly pocketed a loss of about a thou- 
sand dollars. 39 

We must make some allowance for the usual 
exploitation of his own merits by "Peter Parley." 
He was, however, a good friend to the satirist 
and would-be poet, Trumbull, who sought vainly 
(after his young manhood) for literary success. 
The general influence of Trumbull, among his 
friends of patriotic impulses and literary tastes, 
must be admitted as his greatest claim to recog- 

89 Recollections of a Lifetime, Vol. II, pp. in, 112. 



JOHN TRUMBULL 145 

nition, beyond the success which he won as author 
of a single clever burlesque. The face of this 
writer and judge was painted from life by his 
kinsman, John Trumbull. In accord with the 
features there seen, and the traits suggested, is 
this description of him given by Mr. Goodrich : 

His features were finely cut, and he must have been 
handsome in his younger days. His eye was keen and 
bright, his nose slightly aquiline, his mouth arching down- 
wards at the corners, expressive of sarcastic humor. There 
was something about him that at once bespoke the man 
of letters, the poet, and the satirist. 40 

"Ibid., pp. 114, 115. 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 

Classification is a common substitute for liter- 
ary criticism. Often a relative convenience, it 
has sometimes only obscured the distinct traits 
of an author. Occasionally an individual daunts 
the cataloguer and stands in comparative isolation 
— like Dante, Carlyle, Thoreau, or Tolstoy. 
Classification is often based upon the governing 
motif of the writers — as the "Transcenden- 
talists," the "Pre-Raphaelites," and the "Deca- 
dents." The more common allotment is by eras 
and localities; the "Augustan age," the "Eliza- 
beth dramatists," the "Victorian novelists," are 
phrases as familiar as the "Oxford Movement," 
the "Lake Poets," the "Knickerbocker Group," 
or the "Hartford Wits." 

After the middle of the eighteenth century the 
center of literary activity in America was trans- 
ferred from the vicinity of Boston, where it had 
been for many years inspired by Harvard Col- 
lege, to the environment of the younger colleges, 
Nassau Hall, or the College of New Jersey, which 
later became Princeton, and the College of Phila- 
delphia, which formed the nucleus of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania. Graduates of these 

149 



150 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

institutions became progressive leaders in political 
and literary zeal. At Yale College, also, victory 
for modern educational methods had been gained, 
at about the same time that the first notes were 
sounded against British tyranny and in behalf of 
independence. John Trumbull was the leader 
among the Connecticut reformers and satirists, 
but his life reflected his association with a few 
companions, often called the "Hartford Wits." 
While the burlesques and satires that gave fame 
to Trumbull were written during the early years 
of the war, many of his later efforts in satire and 
reform were in collaboration with some patriot- 
comrades who realized the dangers which im- 
periled the new nation. 

Although independence had been won, anarchy 
was menacing; government, finance, and com- 
merce were unstable. Such affairs formed sub- 
jects for grave discussion, varied by witty verse, 
at the gatherings of a "Friendly Club" in Hart- 
ford. Among the nine names mentioned of those 
who formed the original membership of this club,! 
there is a major and a minor list: familiar to 
our ears are the names of John Trumbull.'! 
Timothy Dwight, Joel Barlow, and David 
Humphreys; seldom recalled are their associates,: 
Theodore Dwight, Richard Alsop, and the three 
physicians, Elihu Smith, Mason Cogswell, anc 
Lemuel Hopkins. Other men, possibly alliec 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 151 

with this coterie, were Congressman Uriah 
Tracey, Judge Tappan Reeve, and Zephaniah 
Smith. 1 The series of publications assigned to 
this first group of wits dated from 1785 to 1807. 
Seventy-five years seems to us an incredibly 
long period to elapse between the appearance of 
some literary work in a journal and its first pub- 
lication in book-form. On the title-page of The 
Anarchiad, dated 1861, is this editor's note, 
"Now first published in book form." Research 
shows that the twelve satiric papers constituting 
The Anarchiad were printed first in the New 
Haven Gazette, beginning October 26, 1786, and 
continuing, at intervals, until September 13, 1787. 
They were copied in Federalist journals through- 
out many of the states of the Union. In this 
first, belated edition of The Anarchiad, its 
editor, Luther G. Riggs, expresses an assurance 
"that he is in performance of a duty — that he 
becomes, as it were, an instrument of justice, a 
justice delayed for more than half a century, to 
,the genius and loyalty of its authors, who were 

1 At the library of the Connecticut Historical Society in 
Hartford are several unique pamphlets, generally assigned to 
a later group of "Hartford wits," between 1819 and 1830. 
This group is probably the same mentioned by Goodrich in 
Recollections of a Lifetime, Vol. I, pp. 92-98. The same 
phrase, "Hartford wits," has been passed on to another 
group, of our own day, "Mark Twain," Charles Dudley War- 
ner, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Rev. Joseph Twitchell. 



152 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

among the noblest and most talented sons of the 
Revolution." We would exchange his term 
"genius" for "wit," but we cannot question the 
quality of patriotism and the influence of these 
satires in subduing threatened anarchy, and in 
arousing higher ideals during the crucial years 
after the war, while feeling was strong regarding 
the Constitution and the basis of political and 
financial security. 

The name, borrowed from Miltonic Anarch, 
suggested the purpose, which was further ex- 
plained in the sub-title, "A Poem on the Resto- 
ration of Chaos and Substantial Night." The 
wits wished to show, with forceful satire, the 
warfare waged against the stability of the new 
nation by the promoters of local rebellion, paper 
money, and selfish greed. Although the papers 
were sent unsigned to the newspaper, and the 
various portions have never been perfectly 
identified, the series was undoubtedly the work 
of four men who had shown earlier evidence of 
their patriotism either by service in the army 
or by their writings — John Trumbull, David 
Humphreys, Joel Barlow, and Dr. Lemuel Hop- 
kins. 

To Colonel Humphreys belonged the credit' 
for suggesting this unique literary plan. While 
abroad, serving on the commission for treaties s 
with foreign powers, he had shared in the popu- 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 153 

lar curiosity over an anonymous English satire, 
The Rolliad. Returning to America, he saw with 
dismay the signs of insurrection in Shay's Re- 
bellion and other dangers. He suggested the use 
of satire in verse, akin to the form of The 
Rolliad and Pope's The Dunciad, to arouse public 
curiosity and also to teach lessons of patriotism. 

The prose "Introduction" to the first paper 
mystified the readers and entertained them. It is 
an interesting commentary upon the credulity 
and emotional ferment of the period. The sup- 
posed archaeologist thus addressed the publishers 
of the New Haven Gazette: 

I have the felicity to belong to a society of critics and 
antiquarians, who have made it their business and delight 
for some years past, to investigate the ancient as well as 
natural history of America. The success of their re- 
searches in such an unlimited field, pregnant with such 
wonderful and inexhaustible materials, has been equal 
to their most sanguine expectations. One of our worthy 
associates has favored the public with a minute and ac- 
curate description of the monstrous, new-invented animal 
which had, till its elaborate lucubration, escaped the 

notice of every zoologist Others have spared no 

pains to feast the public curiosity with an ample supply of 
great bones from the Wabash, and, at the same time, to 
quench the thirst for novelty from the burning spring on 
the Ohio. 

It has happily fallen to my lot to communicate 
through the medium of your paper, a recent discovery still 
more valuable to the republic of letters. I need scarcely 



154 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

premise that the ruins of fortifications yet visible, and 
other vestiges of art, in the west country, had sufficiently 
demonstrated that this delightful region had once been 
occupied by a civilized people. Had not this hypothesis 
been previously established, the fact I am about to relate 
would have placed it beyond the possibility of doubt. For 
upon digging into the ruins of one of the most consider- 
able of these fortifications, the labourers were surprised 
to find a casement, ? magazine, and a cistern almost en- 
tire. Pursuing their subterranean progress, near the 
north-east corner of the bastion, they found a great 
number of utensils, more curious and elegant than those 
of Palmyra and Herculaneum. But what rendered their 
good fortune complete, was the discovery of a great num- 
ber of papers, manuscripts, etc., whose preservation, 
through such a lapse of years, amid such marks of hos- 
tility and devastation, must be deemed marvellous in- 
deed, perhaps little short of miraculous. This affords a 
reflection, that such extraordinary circumstances could 
scarcely have taken place to answer only vulgar purposes. 
Happening myself to come upon the spot, immediately 
after this treasure had been discovered, I was permitted 
to take possession of it, in the name and for the use of 
our society. Amongst these relics of antiquity, I was 
rejoiced to find a folio manuscript which appeared to 
contain an epic poem, complete; and, as I am passionately 
fond of poetry, ancient as well modern, I set myself in- 
stantly to cleanse it from the extraneous concretions with 
which it was in some parts enveloped, defaced and rend- 
ered illegible. By means of a chemic preparation, which 
is made use of for restoring oil paintings, I soon ac- 
complished the desirable object. It was then I found it 
was called "The Anarchiad, A Poem on the Restoration 
of Chaos and Substantial Night," in twenty-four books. 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 155 

While public curiosity was thus assailed, the 
second, and ulterior, motive of patriotism was 
emphasized by some interwoven verses. Choos- 
ing Shay's Rebellion as a pivotal example of 
anarchy, the vision of its "mob-compelling," de- 
structive course was outlined by the supposed 
prophet : 

Thy constitution, Chaos, is restor'd, 

Law sinks before thy uncreating word; 

Thy hand unbars th' unfathomed gulf of fate, 

And deep in darkness whelms the new-born state. 8 

In addition to the insurrections against mar- 
tial laws and state organizations, there was 
another lurking evil, especially in New England 
— the futile paper money, and the consequent 
depreciation and instability of all industries. 
Rhode Island was suffering much from this 
cause, and seemed to be in the power of wary, 
selfish schemers. In the second and third num- 
bers of "American Antiquities," as the Anarchiad 
series was called, mock-heroics in verse were 
mingled with serious advice, in prose, from 
Connecticut to her oppressed neighbor state. 
With direct truth it was asserted : 

For it will scarcely be denied in any part of the 

United States, that paper money, in an unfunded and 

depreciating condition, is happily calculated to introduce 

the long-expected scenes of misrule, dishonesty, and per- 

! dition. 

2 The Anarchiad (New Haven, 1861), p. 6. 



156 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

The fourth and fifth papers in the series ap- 
pealed for a revival of national pride and prog- 
ress. Hesper, the promise of Dawn, confronts 
Anarch, god of Night, and by the contention 
seeks to arouse loyalty among the people: 

Teach ere too late, their blood-bought rights to prize, 
Bid other Greenes and Washingtons arise! 
Teach those who suffer'd for their country's good, 
Who strove for freedom and who toil'd in blood, 
Once more in arms to make the glorious stand; 
And bravely die or save their natal land ! 8 

In the fifth article of the series was an ode, 
"Genius of America" — a favorite title of the day. 
In offering it, the authors expressed a hope that, 
"should the taste of their countrymen in general 
be uncorrupted, as they flatter themselves it is, 
they expect this song will be introduced into most 
of the polite circles of the United States." The 
author of this ode was Humphreys; for it was 
included later among his poems. He must have 
rejoiced — for he sought appreciation — when 
the song was "introduced" and reprinted. Sung 
to the tune of "The watery god, great Neptune, 
lay," it won much popularity ; but in thought and 
meter it ranks among the most inferior portions 
of The Anarchiad. A single stanza will indicate 
both form and theme — the dangers which threat- 
ened to destroy America's glory : 

3 hoc. cit., p. 13. 






A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 157 

Shall steed to steed, and man to man, 
With discord thundering in the van, 

Again destroy the bliss! 
Enough my mystic words reveal; 
The rest the shades of night conceal, 

In fate's profound abyss! 4 

The dialogue between Anarch and his pupil 
Wrongheads, in the sixth and seventh portions, 
extorted a confession from the demagogue that 
his aim was selfish greed, and the enemies whom 
he most feared were the friends of law, justice, 
and education. 

One of the objects of special censure by the 
Democrats, who feared the tendencies toward 
monarchy and militarism, was the Society of the 
Cincinnati. In eastern Connecticut there lived 
William Williams, a prominent lawyer, who 
had ventured to question the wisdom of continu- 
ing the Cincinnati as a banded society. Wil- 
liams was a fine scholar, and had proved himself 
a staunch patriot during the war, by giving 
lavishly of his money and service in town offices. 
Later he became judge of Windham County, and 
married the daughter of Governor Trumbull. 
His criticisms of the Cincinnati, however, had 
aroused Barlow and Humphreys, who were 
prominent among its members and orators, and 
they found an opportunity to retaliate. In April, 

*Ibid., pp. 26-28. 



158 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

1786, Williams was a candidate for election, as 
a Democrat, to the State Assembly. To Joseph 
Hopkins he sent a letter and an "Address," urg- 
ing his friend to guard carefully the contents of 
the letter until the right time for use. In trans- 
mission the letter was lost — or purloined — and 
was published soon after. The result was the 
so-called "Wimble War," which was waged in 
the Connecticut Courant during the autumn of 
1786. 5 

This intercepted letter, and its author, fur- 
nished material for a caustic burlesque in the 
eighth number of the "American Antiquities." 
The newspaper stanzas of lampoon letters by 
"William Wimble" and "Joseph Copper," sug- 
gest to us the wit of Trumbull : 

Hoping to see you in October, 
With face full long, and cant full sober; 
So pray be cautious, sly and nimble, 
Your loving servant, William Wimble. 6 

After this personal digression, the authors of 
The Anarchiad returned to more general themes 
and uttered a strong plea for federalism. With 
biting sarcasm, they decried Congress, indiffer- 

6 In idea and form these papers of retort were modeled 
somewhat after the "Wimble Papers" in the Spectator, 

8 The Anarchiad, Appendix, p. 1 09. First in the Con- 
necticut Courant, October 9, 1786. 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 159 

ent to "Hamilton's unshaken soul" and his wise 
counsel : 

My band of mutes, in dire confusion throng, 
Convinc'd of right, yet obstinate in wrong. 7 

"The Speech of Hesper to the Sages and 
Counsellors at Philadelphia" was probably the 
work of Dr. Lemuel Hopkins. With details of 
sufferings and scars, he recounted the grief of the 
war veterans because of political inertia and 
anarchical tendencies. The last stanzas made a 
strong appeal for a centralized government : 

But know, ye favor'd race, one potent head 

Must rule your States, and strike your foes with dread, 

The finance regulate, the trade control, 

Live through the empire, and accord the whole. 

Ere death invades, and night's deep curtain falls, 

Through ruined realms the voice of UNION calls; 

On you she calls ! Attend the warning cry : 

YE LIVE UNITED, OR DIVIDED DIE! 

The last two numbers of this strange, in- 
choate "epic" represented a journey through 
"The Land of Annihilation" and "The Region 
of Preexistent Spirits." Various critics of the 
new nation and its poets mingled here with 
enemies of national unity. Notable among the 
critics chosen for special mention were Raynal, 
Mirabeau, and Robertson. Abbe Raynal's open 

7 Ibid., p. 53. See also J. C. Hamilton, History of the Re- 
public as Traced in the Writings of Alexander Hamilton, etc. 
(1859), Vol. Ill, p. 228. 



i6o HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

denial that "America had produced a Man of 
Genius in one single Art or one single Science" 
seemed anathema to these versifiers, who consid- 
ered each other men of genius. They poured 
forth their wrath also against fictitious narratives 
about America by foreign writers, especially the 
false and maligning stories of Washington's 
amours, as told by D'Auberteul. Perhaps it was 
Humphreys who hurled that last shaft of in- 
vective, to redeem the honor of his commander : 

In wit's light robe shall gaudy fiction shine, 
And all be lies, as in a work of thine. 8 

The Anarchiad was essentially a literary curi- 
osity, although it had immediate influence upon 
the policies of Connecticut and more distant 
states. It is uneven in merit, and often anti- 
climactic. Probably it was written without any 
perfected plan, or expectation of publication in 
sequential form; later numbers were intended by 
the authors, if circumstances should call them 
forth. The series corresponded to the more 
didactic and aggressive columns of arguments in 
behalf of federalism which were contributed at 
the same time to newspapers in Massachusetts, 
New York, Pennsylvania, and other states where 
there was contest over the adoption of the new 

s The Anarchiad, p. 82. The Revolution of America, by 
the Abbe Raynal, Salem, MDCCLXXXII. History of 
America, by William Robertson, D.D., Dublin, 1777. New 
York, 1798. 




61ic^vd : ,o. 








i : . . - »•■; l 

Title-page of The Echo (1807); from copy in Connecticut 
HistoricaLSociety Library. 






A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 161 

Constitution, in place of the old Articles of Con- 
federation. 



The Echo was, in a way, a continuation of 
these satiric papers, although the members of the 
Hartford coterie had changed somewhat, and the 
subjects chosen for ridicule or remonstrance were 
more varied. The Echo had less significance 
in the politico-literary history of the age, yet 
here were satires of strong feeling directed 
against political evils, and lampoons upon demo- 
cratic publications. A secondary motive of the 
writers was to caricature the excesses of literary 
style found in many publications of the time. Of 
the group who had written The Anarchiad in 
collaboration, Humphreys and Barlow were 
abroad when The Echo series appeared, and 
Trumbull's part has been questioned. Dr. 
Lemuel Hopkins, alone of the earlier coterie, was 
assuredly a contributor to the later series. Asso- 
ciated with him were Theodore Dwight, Richard 
SAlsop, Dr. Elihu Smith, and Dr. Mason Cogswell. 
That Trumbull had a vital interest in these 
papers written by his friends, and was informed 
regarding many matters there suggested, is shown 
by a copy of The Echo which belonged to him 
land bears his name, to be found now at the Con- 
necticut Historical Society. His notes, in ink, 
issist one in deciding the authorship of certain 



162 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

portions. In the preface to the collected papers 
the explanation was given that the idea of these 
word-cartoons came 

of a moment of literary sportiveness at a time when ped- 
antry, affectation and bombast pervaded most of the i| 
pieces published in the gazettes, .... thus to check the : 
progress of false taste in American literature, the authors ! 
conceived that ridicule would prove a powerful corrective, j 
and that the mode employed in The Echo was the best t] 
suited to this purpose. 

The political evils were also emphasized and the J 
plan of the authors to scathe and correct 

that hideous morality of revolutionary madness, which ! 
levelled the boundaries of virtue and vice, .... that de- I 
structive torrent which threatened to overwhelm everything 
good and estimable in private life, everything venerable 
and excellent in political society. 9 

The first "Echo" appeared August 8, 1791, in 
the American Mercury — a weekly newspaper 
started in 1784 by Joel Barlow and Elisha Bab- 
cock. It was a parody upon a florid report in a 
Boston newspaper. The latter, in recording a 
thunderstorm, had used such language as this: 
"uncorking the bottles of Heaven, revealing livid 
flame, disploding thunders, amid the brilliance 

9 The Echo, with Other Poems. Printed at the Porcupine 
Press by Pasquin Petronius (New York, 1807; 8vo). Thei 
droll illustrations were conceived by Elkanah Tisdale, a face-; 
tious miniature-painter. The book was really issued by Isaac 
Riley, brother-in-law of Theodore D wight and Alsop. (Good-i 
rich, Recollections of a Lifetime, Vol. II, p. 109, note.) 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 163 

of this irradiated arch!" The wits thus parodied 
the prose : 

Even the last drop of hope, which dripping skies, 
Gave for a moment to our straining eyes, 
Like Boston Rum, from heaven's junk bottles broke, 
Lost all the corks and vanished into smoke. 

The sons of Boston, the elect of Heaven, 
Presented Mercy's Angel, smiling fair, 
Irradiate splendors frizzled in his hair, 
Uncorking demi-johns, and pouring down 
Heaven's liquid blessings on the gaping town. 

The ornate phrases of Hugh Henry Bracken- 
ridge and Governor John Hancock, John Adams, 
striving to please both aristocrats and democrats, 
certain demagogues of Jacobin type, a Phila- 
delphia "Mirabeau" who ventured to attack the 
politics and literary abilities of the Hartford 
group — such were some of the individuals 
singled out for special ridicule by the authors 
of The Echo. Many of the numbers appeared 
first in the American Mercury, and were reprinted 
in other newspapers, from 1791 to 1800. In the 
years that intervened before they were collected 
and published in book- form, in 1807, some 
of them appeared as broadsides or pamphlets, 
generally soon after they were written. Often 
the papers were intended as New Year's verses. 

One of the most representative of the satires, 
which won popular reading among the Federalists 



164 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

and was printed in pamphlet form, was by Dr. 
Hopkins, "The Democratiad : A Poem in Retalia- 
tion, for the Philadelphia Jockey Club. By a. 
Gentleman of Connecticut. 1795." This passed 
into at least two editions; it is No. XVIII il 
in The Echo. The Philadelphia Jockey Club, 10 \ 
the publication which had roused the wrath of'; 
the Wits, gave the example of the Hartford writ- 
ers and William Cobbett, or "Peter Porcupine/' 
whom they echoed, as an excuse for its 
attacks upon individuals of prominence among 
Federalists. Thus, the Philadelphia satirists de- •! 
clared their course of personal attack was 
"authorized by the precedent of the infamous 
PETER PORCUPINE and the literary out-law 
Snub, whose political squabbles have involved 
the characters of many respectables." In his I 
answering satire, Hopkins attacked the Demo- 
crats and Jacobins, leveling his shafts of abuse 
especially against Benjamin Franklin Bache, the: 
editor of the Aurora, and a grandson of ! 
Franklin : 
Thou great descendant of that wondrous man, 
Whose genius wild through all creation ran — 
That man who walk'd the world of science o'er, 
From ink and types to where the thunders roar, — 
To thee, friend Bache, these lines I now address, 
10 The Philadelphia Jockey Club; or Mercantile Influence 
Weighed consisting of Select Characters taken from the 
Club of Addressers. By Timothy Tickler, 1795. Philadelphia. \ 
Printed for the Purchasers. (16 pages.) 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 165 

Prepar'd on purpose for thy hallow'd press, 
I've pick'd thee out because I highly prize, 
Thy grandsire's memory and thy knack at lies." 

After further invective against the leaders of 
the Jacobinical faction, the author said in apos- 
trophe to Washington : 

ILLUSTRIOUS MAN! thy indignation shew, 
And plunge them headlong where they ought to go, 
Then turn thine eye, this mighty realm survey, 
See Federal Virtue bless thy glorious sway. 

The next year Dr. Hopkins was again chosen 
to write the New Year's verses in The Echo 
series, — "The Guillotina; or, A Democratic 
Dirge : A Poem. By the Author of Demo- 
cratiad." They first appeared in the Connecticut 
C our ant, January 1, 1796, and were afterward 
published as a pamphlet, possibly also as a broad- 
side. 12 The bald witticisms are recognized as 
those of Hopkins, as in the stanza : 

Come sing again ! since Ninety-Five, 

Has left some Antis still alive, 

Some Jacobins as pert as ever, 

Tho' much was hoped from Yellow-fever. 

11 Copies of The Philadelphia Jockey Club and The Demo- 
cratiad are in the Connecticut Historical Society, the Histori- 
cal Societies of New York and Pennsylvania, and the Library 
of Congress. Both were issued in Philadelphia. 

12 Another "Guillotina for 1797" was issued as a broad- 
side (Hudson & Goodwin, Hartford). It is unsigned and was 
not printed in The Echo. 



166 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 






"The Political Green-House for 1798" was 
another widely quoted composition by this group. 
According to the record by Trumbull, in his copy 
of The Echo, this was written by Lemuel Hop- 
kins, Richard Alsop, and Theodore D wight. 13 
With earnest patriotism and wit blended, the 
verses began: 

Oft has the NEW YEAR'S Muse essay'd, 

To quit the annual rhyming trade, 

Oft has she hop'd the period nigh, 

When fools would cease, and knaves would die, 

But each succeeding year has tax'd her 

With "more last words of Mr. Baxter." 

And most of all has Ninety-Eight 

Outstripp'd the years of former date, 

And while a Jacobin remains, 

While Frenchmen live and Faction reigns, 

Her voice, array'd in awful rhyme, 

Shall thunder down the steep of Time. 

With unexpected details, the authors of this 
New Year's message gave specific directions how 
to avoid contagion from yellow fever, which was: 
the scourge of that year in New York. There 
was a reason for these references, since one of the' 
wits had fallen victim to the fever and died, Dr. 
Elihu Smith. He made the first large compila- 
tion of American poetry during the summer of 

13 The Political Green-House for the Year 1798. Addressed* 
to the Readers of Jhe Connecticut Courant, January 1st, 1790., 
(Hartford, no date; small 8vo), The Echo, pp. 233-59. 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 167 

1793, while he was resting at his home in Litch- 
field, Connecticut. He thus preserved many 
scattered verses by his friends and other writers, 
which would otherwise have remained unknown. 
Although associated somewhat with the Hartford 
Wits, he was more closely linked with the early 
writers of fiction and drama in New York. 
Further mention of his life, therefore, will be 
deferred until the later chapters of this book. 
According to a note by Trumbull, Dr. Smith was 
the author of one paper in The Echo series, 
"Extracts from Democracy by Aquiline Nimble- 
chops." 14 He probably assisted in collaborating 
others. 

Burlesque and satire characterize the pages of 
The Echo, but there are also lines of earnestness, 
as these in The Guillotina : 

Spread knowledge then; this only Hope 

Can make each eye a telescope, 

Frame it by microscopic art; 

To scan the hypocritic heart. 

One poem, assuredly assigned as the com- 
position of Theodore Dwight, was a feigned 
rejoicing at the election of Jefferson. It was 
entitled "The Triumph of Democracy," 15 and re- 

w An answering satire to the pamphlet Democracy by 
Henry Brockholst Livingston, who wrote over the above 
pseudonym. 

15 Written for the Connecticut Courant, January 1, 1801 ; 
in The Echo, pp. 268-82. 



168 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

vealed the feeling of bitterness on the part of the 
Federalists against Jefferson, with scornful 
innuendo against Aaron Burr, in the closing lines : 
Let every voice with triumph sing — 
JEFFERSON is chosen king ! 
Ring every bell in every steeple, 
T' announce the "Monarch of the People !" 
Stop, — ere your civic feasts begin, 
Wait till the votes are all come in; 
Perchance, amid this mighty stir, 
Your Monarch may be Col. BURR! 
Who, if he mounts the sovereign seat, 
Like BONAPARTE will make you sweat, 
Your Idol then must quaking dwell, 
Mid Mammoth's bones at Monticelle, 
His country's barque from anchors free, 
On "Liberty's tempestuous sea," 
While all the Democrats will sing — 
THE DEVIL TAKE THE PEOPLE'S KING! 

While we acknowledge only occasional literary 
merit in the work of the Hartford Wits — and a 
large part of it has political rather than literary 
interest — it must be confessed by one who >■ 
examines their writings in detail that they reflect 
strong, unique personalities. They have received 
far less attention than their predecessors in 1 
political and social progress, yet they bore a part 
in the development of an upright and sane Ameri- 
canism. If Trumbull was considered the leader, 
as we have said, he had companions in fame, 
among his contemporaries, — Timothy Dwight, 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 169 

Joel Barlow, and David Humphreys. These Con- 
necticut men formed a mutual-admiration society 
seldom equaled in extravagant tribute, which 
reads like a farce today. Thus Alsop praised 

Majestic Dwight, sublime in epic strain, 
Paints the fierce horrors of the crimson plain, 
And in Virgilian Barlow's tuneful lines 
With added splendour great Columbus shines. 16 

In the eighth book of The Columbiad, Joel Bar- 
low became effusive over the poetic gifts of the 
Connecticut poets, especially Trumbull, Timothy 
Dwight, and Humphreys: 

See TRUMBULL lead the train. His skilful hand 
Hurls the keen darts of satire round the land. 
Pride, knavery, dulness feel his mortal stings, 
And listening virtue triumphs while he sings. 
Britain's foil'd sons, victorious now no more, 
In guilt retiring from the wasted shore, 
Strive their curst cruelties to hide in vain, 
The world resounds them in his deathless strain. 

See HUMPHREYS glorious from the field retire, 
Sheathe the glad sword and string the soothing lyre; 
His country's wrongs, her duties, dangers, praise, 
Fire his full soul and animate his lays : 
Wisdom and War with equal joy shall own 
So fond a votary and so brave a son. 

For DWIGHT'S high harp the epic Muse sublime, 
Hails her new empire in the western clime. 

" The Charms of Fancy (New York, 1856), Book II. 



170 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

The lines just quoted will suffice to indicate 
the exuberance of phrases, and the triteness of 
thought, which seem to have been the chief 
characteristics of the once famous Joel Barlow. 
Of all the Hartford group he was the most promi- 
nent in the earlier years. He was a chaplain in 
the war, was agent in Paris of the Scioto Land 
Company of Ohio, and served abroad on com- 
missions for treaties with the Barbary tribes and 
other peoples. In spite of the popular verdict of 
his own day upon his voluminous "Vision of 
Columbus," "Conspiracy of Kings," and "The 
Columbiad," he will be remembered, if at all, by 
the simple rhyme of "Hasty-Pudding," written 
during an hour of loneliness on foreign soil. 17 

Barlow's published writings of varied sorts — 
poetry, addresses, "Advice" — are found at many 
libraries, and his life has been more often studied 
than that of contemporary writers and friends. 18 
In the Pequot Library at Southport, Connecticut, 
is a rare collection of manuscript letters, written 
by Barlow, only a few of which have been 
printed. The letters to his wife, which form the 
large part, are interesting revelations of the per- 

17 Hasty Pudding: A Poem, in Three Cantos. Written 
in Chambery, in Savoy, January i, 1793, (New Haven, 1796). 

18 Charles Burr Todd, Life and Letters of Joel Barlow, 
LL.D., Poet, Statesman, Philosopher (New York, 1886), 
Moses Coit Tyler, Three Men of Letters (New York, 1895.) 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 171 

sonality of this man who promised so much and 
achieved so little, in diplomacy, business, and 
literature. In the letters to his wife from Paris, in 
1789, he describes the Revolution as he has wit- 
nessed it, and feels that it is "no small satisfac- 
tion to have seen two complete revolutions in 
favor of Liberty." With frequent apologies for 
remaining abroad, he explains that his "affairs 
are still in a degree of uncertainty." The chief 
faults which his friends deplored were vacilla- 
tion and a proneness to speculate with money, 
both his own and that of others. Manuscript 
poems in embryo, especially inspired by his 
acquaintance in Paris with Robert Fulton, are 
found among these letters. 19 

After Barlow's return to America, and the 
publication of his long poems, he expected wide 
recognition among his countrymen; but he was 
embittered by indifference on some sides, and 
criticisms from other sources upon his political 
vacillation and seeming infidelity. Two of his 
letters, unpublished and here given by permission, 
indicate his sensitiveness, and they also show his 
foresight regarding national evils. The first was 
addressed to Gideon Granger, postmaster-general, 
and urged the appointment of a friend to office, 
emphasizing his scholarship and mental abilities: 

19 "The Canal : A Poem on the Application of Physical 
Science to Political Economy" etc. (manuscript). 



172 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

It is really discouraging to all liberal pursuits, & 
proves that the government is accessory to the great 
national sin of the country, which I fear will overturn its 
liberties, — I mean the inordinate & universal pursuit of 
wealth as a means of distinction. 

For example, if I find that writing the Columbiad, 20 
with all its moral qualities, literature, & science which 
that work supposes, will not place me on a footing with 
John Tayloe, who is rich, why then (God damn you) I'll 
be rich too. I'll dispise my literary labors (which tend to 
build up our system of free government) & I'll boast of my 
bank shares (which tend to pull it down) because these 
& not those, procure me the distinction which we all desire. 
I will teach my nephews by precept & all the rising 
generation by example that merit consists in oppressing 
mankind & not in serving them. 21 

Another significant letter was written by Bar- 
low to Jonathan Law, a prominent citizen of 
Hartford, with political influence in answer to 
charges brought against the would-be poet "by 
the malicious hypocrisy of such men as D wight, 
& Parke & Coleman" : 

I know as well as they do that all they say against 
me is false. All they mean or ever did mean by calling 
me an antichristian is that I am a republican. This 
latter appellation they don't like to quarrel with openly, 
& for that reason they disguise it under the other. .... 
But I shall probably never condescend to give my calum- 

20 See Critical Observations on the Columbiad, etc., in the 
Bibliography. 

21 The Letters were dated Kalorama, near Washington 
City, May 3, October 24, 1809. 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 173 

niators any sort of answer. I ask nothing from them, not 
even to let me alone. Poor fellows, they must live. 
Parke says individuals & nations have a right to get their 
bread in any manner they can. And these men slander 
me to get their bread. 

I remember to have seen a song in praise of the guillo- 
tine in one of Cobbett's pamphlets about a dozen years 
ago, which he said was written by me. It might have 
served the purpose of the faction at the time to lay it to 
me; whatever might be their motive it was a forgery.* 2 

Timothy Dwight was deeply interested in the 
publications of this band of Hartford wits, but 
he did not contribute directly to their writings. 
He was included in their effusive praises of each 
other, and his ambitious "Conquest of Canaan" 
and "Greenfield Hill" were considered works of 
lasting renown. 23 These voluminous poems are 
seldom read today, but the reposeful, hymnal 

22 This is given in "A Bone to Gnaw for the Democrats, 
or Observations on a Pamphlet, entitled 'The Political Pro- 
gress of Britain,' " p. 16, 3d ed., Philadelphia, 1795. In a note 
it is stated that the song was sung at the Fourth of July cele- 
bration at Hamburg, written by "the celebrated Mr. Barlow 
who was then at that place." The first stanza will indicate 
the radical character of the song : 

God save the Guillotine, 

Till England's King and Queen, 

Her power shall prove ; 
Till each appointed knob 
Affords a clipping job 
Let no vile halter rob 

The Guillotine. 

23 "The Conquest of Caanan" 1785 (eleven books). 
"Greenfield Hill," 1794 (seven parts). 



174 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

lines by Dr. Dwight, and his strong influence upon 
young men in behalf of better citizenship, have 
won for him a revered name in American history. 
He was an ardent patriot and a great admirer of 
Washington. A letter to Oliver Wolcott, Jr., 
written after Dwight's visit to Philadelphia, in 
1793, denounced Freneau and his paper for its 
attacks upon Washington. It was evident that 
Dwight considered Freneau's Gazette as a JefTer- 
sonian organ : 

The late very impertinent and shameless attacks on the 
first Magistrate are viewed with a general and marked 
indignation. Freneau your printer, Linguist, &c, is re- 
garded here as a mere incendiary, or rather as a despi- 
cable tool of bigger incendiaries ; and his paper as a 
public nuisance. 

A few miles from New Haven is the hill-town 
of Derby. Here is an active chapter of the 
Daughters of the American Revolution — the 
Sarah Riggs Humphreys chapter — that has pre- 
served many relics which pertain to the life- 
history of David Humphreys. 24 As a young 
captain in the army under Colonel Meigs, and 
later as aide-de-camp to Generals Putnam, Greene, 
and Washington, Humphreys showed his alertness 
of mind, his courage, and his zeal for American 

24 See Chapter Sketches, Daughters of American Revolu- 
tion (Connecticut, 1900) ; also Seymour: Past and Present 
(1902). For editors, etc., see the Bibliography. 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 175 

progress. After the war he was with Jefferson, 
for a time, at Paris on the commission for treat- 
ies with foreign powers, and also served as 
diplomat at Lisbon and at Madrid. With these 
manlier traits he blended gallantry and clever- 
ness, which made him a social favorite in foreign 
circles of society, but which called forth censure 
from some court-despising Americans. After he 
had returned to America, he was invited to visit 
at Mount Vernon, and Washington offered him 
aid in pursuing a literary plan 25 which he had 
mentioned in his letters, namely, to write a history 
of the Revolution. At first thought, it may seem 
unfortunate that this plan was abandoned by 
Humphreys because of its magnitude. His tastes 
and effusive style, however, would not have 
produced a history of permanent value. His bio- 
graphic essays on Israel Putnam were subjected 
to severe censure, but they gave the materials 
for later historians to utilize with better results. 26 
In letters and poetic ventures, Humphreys left 
a vivid impression of Washington's life at Mount 
Vernon, in the years between the close of the war 
and his presidency. He pictured him as super- 

25 The Writings of Washington, edited by W. C. Ford, 
Vol. X, pp. 473, 474. 

28 An Essay on the Life of the Honourable Major-General 
Israel Putnam (Hartford, 1788; Philadelphia, 1798). See 
more fully in the Bibliography. 



176 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

vising his eight hundred acres of wheat and 
seven hundred acres of corn, and giving his per- 
sonal attention to the task of navigating the 
Potomac, and extending the settlement of the 
western boundaries of the country. Humphreys 
was very proud of his friendship with Washing- 
ton, and often referred to the latter with deep 
admiration, marred sometimes by such lines of 
egotism as in this stanza : 

Let others sing his deeds in arms, 
A nation saved and conquest's charms 

Posterity shall hear. 
'Twas mine, return'd from Europe's courts, 
To share his thoughts, partake his sports, 
And soothe his partial ear. 27 

This soldier-versifier was vain and aspiring to 
literary fame, but he showed sturdier qualities 
when occasion called them forth. He took com- 
mand of a band of men to guard the arsenal at 
Springfield, when it was threatened in Shay's 
Rebellion ; he served in the state assembly during 
the years when he was collaborating with his 
friends in the series of papers of The Anarchiad. 
His "Poem Addressed to the Armies of the 
United States of America," first published in 
1780, was reprinted in Paris six years later; this 

27 Ode "Mount Vernon" Connecticut Courant, October 9, 
1786; Miscellaneous Works of David Humphreys, p. 68. 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 177 

sign of appreciation gave him much delight. 28 
While abroad he lived in a style which attracted 
attention for its luxury, but which he seemed to 
defend in a manuscript letter to Timothy Picker- 
ing, which I am permitted to print here. 29 It 
was written soon after his appointment as 
minister at Madrid; he explained the necessary 
expenses involved in moving his effects from 
Lisbon to Madrid : 

I do not wish to make any unnecessary display, foreign 
to the dignified simplicity so becoming, in every character, 
but more particularly in that of a Republican Minister; or 
to live in any respect in an ostentatious manner; but I de- 
sire to be able to live in a decent style (as other ministers 
are accustomed to do) without being under the necessity of 

incurring debts I hope & believe I shall never affect 

a style of hauteur; and whenever I cannot live abroad 
without embarrassment or meanness, I shall think it time 
to retire from public life — for sometimes the embarrassed 
conduct of a Diplomatic Agent extends beyond his indi- 
vidual Character and leaves an unfavorable impression 
of the Character of his Nation on the Minds of for- 
eigners The transportation of my Carriages (of 

which I shall be obliged to carry four) Baggage, and 
necessaries will certainly, in the augmented price of for- 
age, etc. cost me a good sum of money — for besides taking 

28 Discours en vers, addresse aux officiers et aux soldats 
des differ entes armees americaines (Paris, 1786). Humphreys 
presented several libraries in America with copies of this 
poem. 

29 Pickering Papers, Vol. XXI, No. 1 (Massachusetts His- 
torical Society). Lisbon, January 1, 1797. 



178 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

with me my own horses, I must order six or seven Mules 
to be sent from Madrid, and moreover employ a consider- 
able number of common Carriers. 

In spite of such indications of coxcombry in 
Humphreys, shown also in his delight to intro- 
duce foreign forms into the President's levees im 
New York, 30 he was a true patriot in his im- 
pulses and aims. At forty-five, while abroad, he 
married the daughter of an English banker, butij 
he was unwilling to live abroad, after his diplo- 
matic missions were ended. As he had shared in 
gaining the liberty of America, so he wished to 
help in fostering her industries and arts. While 
at Lisbon he had written "A Poem on Industry," 
which ranked with his poem to the armies in its.j 
patriotism, as well as its verbosity; Humphreys 
could not write in simple English. 31 The poem, 
however, and his practical success in manufac- 
turing homespun cloths, entitle him to credit for ; 
noble motives. He brought with him from SpainJ 
in 1802, one hundred and fifty merino sheep, as a 
nucleus for his enterprise. Near his Derby home 
he established a number of mills which made the 
settlement, at first called Chusetown and later 

■ 1 1 

30 See Jefferson's Writings, edited by Paul L. Ford, VoL 
I, p. 216, 233. 

31 A Poem on Industry: addressed to the Citizens of tht 
United States of America. By Col. David Humphreys, Minister 
Resident at the Court of Lisbon (Philadelphia, i794)» 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 179 

Humphreysville, a flourishing village. 32 The 
fulling-mill, cotton-mill, and paper-mill were 
opened in turn, and employment was given to 
scores of artisans. He brought several boys from 
the New York almshouses as apprentices. From 
England came master-workmen to superintend 
the manufacture of cloth, which was worn by 
Jefferson and other statesmen, and which en- 
couraged the growth of American industries. 33 

Humphreys was not alone a patriotic manu- 
facturer, but he was also a pioneer social settler. 
In his village he sought to produce fine manhood 
•as well as fine cloth. He furnished a library and 
recreation-room for his operatives, led his boys in 
military drills, took part with them in games, and 
:oached them in rehearsals of various plays and 
'pieces" of his own composition. One of these, 
The Yankey in England, was acted in 181 5, and 
Drinted. In studying the life of Humphreys, we 
ilways find many evidences of his besetting 
;in, literary vanity. He won respect as a soldier 
!ind a promoter of industry, but he sought for 
•ank in letters. This he obtained among his 
r riends, and often he was highly praised in 
ournals of the day. 34 He cultivated his inferior 

32 See Seymour: Past and Present (1902). 

33 Jefferson's Writings, Vol. IX, p. 225. 

34 In the Literary Magazine and American Register for 
805 is a so-called "review" of his Miscellaneous Works which 
3 absurd in praise. 



i8o HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

talents too ardently, forgetting the moral in 
"The Monkey Fable," probably finished by 
Trumbull : 

Who cannot write, yet handle pens, 

Are apt to hurt themselves and friends. 38 

In contrast with the admiration which 
Humphreys craved, and often gained in America, 
was the frank disgust of Southey. He had met I 
Humphreys at Lisbon, and wrote later to a friend : 

Timothy Dwight, an American, published in 1785 an 
heroic poem on the Conquest of Canaan. I had heard of 
it, and long wished to read it, in vain; but now the I 
American Minister (a good-natured man, whose poetry 
is worse than anything except his criticism) has lent 
me the book. There certainly is some merit in the poem; 
but when Col. Humphreys speaks of it, he will not 
allow me to put in a word in defense of John Milton. 38 

His writings were prefaced by long notes of ex- 
planation and tribute. 

The poems which are least effusive and offen-j 
sive in form, among those included in his Miscel- 
laneous Works, were the odes descriptive of the 
burning of Fairfield by the British, in 1779, and 



35 The Miscellaneous Works of David Humphreys, Late 
Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America 
to the Court of Madrid (New York, 1804), p. 228. An 
earlier edition of poems and essay on Putnam, 1790. See the 
Bibliography. 

36 Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, Vol. I, p. 
269. 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 181 

that on the "Happiness of America." 37 The 
stanza in the latter which portrays the interior 
scene of a humble American home in winter may 
be fittingly recalled : 

The cattle fed — the fuel pil'd within — 

At setting day the blissful hours begin; 

'Tis then, sole owner of his little cot; 

The farmer feels his independent lot; 

Hears with the crackling blaze that lights the wall, 

The voice of gladness and of nature call; 

Beholds his children play, their mother smile, 

And tastes with them the fruit of summer's toil. 

During the War of 1812, Humphreys was 
general of a company of war veterans for home 
protection, and he wrote, with rejoicing, of his 
country's victories on the sea. His monument, 
erected soon after his death in 18 18, stands near 
the entrance to the old cemetery at New Haven, 
close to Yale University buildings. Its verbose 
Latin epitaph was written by his friend John 
Trumbull. 

Associated with the men of greater renown 
in their own day — Timothy Dwight, Trumbull, 
Barlow, and Humphreys — were three collabor- 
ators of less familiar but influential lives — 
Theodore Dwight, Richard Alsop, and Dr. 
Lemuel Hopkins. Theodore Dwight, the elder, 
•md brother of Timothy, was a lawyer, and was 

87 The former poem was written "on the spot" soon after 
he burning of the town, where lived his sister, who barely 
•scaped (Works, p. 112). 



182 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

editor of the Connecticut Mirror from 1809 until 
181 5. For two years previously, 1806-7, he was 
a member of Congress. The latter part of his 
life was passed in New York, where he con-; 
ducted the New York Daily Advertiser from 
1817 to 1835. 38 He wrote a partisan study of:| 
Jefferson's character, a fervent hymn on Wash- | 
ington, some strong orations and an etymolog- 
ical dictionary. To him we owe the preservation 
of the long poem by Richard Alsop, The Charms ' 
of Fancy, and many interesting revelations of the 
poet, who was not alone Dwight's friend, but 
also his brother-in-law. 39 

Alsop was probably the editor of the papers 
known as The Echo, when they were first printed. 
A letter, in manuscript, from him to Dr. Mason 
Cogswell is in the copy of The Echo owned by 
John Trumbull, now at the Connecticut Historical 
Society. Alsop mentioned some errata and con- 
tinued, regarding the tone of the papers : 

I should be very sorry to have The Echo considered 
as a party production, as it must considerably lessen its 
reputation, & any alterations which will take off from that 
appearance without injury to the object in view, in my 
opinion will be best. 

38 Facts about Dwight and Alsop are in J. Hammond 
Trumbull, The Memorial History of Hartford County, Vol. I, 
pp. 157-60. See also the Bibliography. 

39 A review of Dwight's character and works were pub- 
lished in the New York Historical Society Proceedings. 
1846, p. 13. 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 183 

Born in Midclletown, Connecticut, Alsop pre- 
pared for college, but continued his studies at 
home, becoming a fine translator of Runic 
poetry, Homer, Ossian, and Molina's History 
of Chili. For a time he had a bookstore in Hart- 
ford, where he lived with his sister. In an ad- 
dress, To the Freemen of Connecticut, (which is 
classified as his by an ink ascription in a copy at 
the Massachusetts Historical Society, dated Mid- 
dletown, September 12, 1803,) he expressed confi- 
dence that God would protect "the Vine of this 
state" against "the rude shocks of democratic 
violence, nor will He suffer its ripened clusters 
to be trampled in the dust." 40 

In William Dunlap's manuscript journal, 1797, 
he mentions a visit to Alsop at Middletown, "to 
shoot ducks;" later he accompanied Alsop "in a 
chaise to Hartford where lived, at that time, Miss 
Fanny Alsop." 

In the "Memoir" of Alsop which prefaced his 
visionary poem, The Charms of Fancy, we learn 
of his scholarship and scientific interests which 
blended with his poetic tastes. His sister said: 
r 'He seemed to know every variety of birds, and 
[ might almost say, every feather." In boxes of 
lis own design he kept his natural-history speci- 
mens — a large collection. His long, ambitious 

40 To the Freemen of the State of Connecticut, p. 16 (no 
)lace), 1803. 



1 84 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

poem on fancy, and its inspiration for poet, 
painter, and musician, has a few fine lines, and 
reveals his wide reading and patriotic zeal for 
America's progress in the arts. The poem by 
Alsop which seems to me the most worthy, how- 
ever, was not printed in permanent form, except 
in collections of poetry, but it suggests, as a fore- j 
runner, Bryant's "To a Waterfowl." Alsop's 
poem was entitled "Verses to a Shearwater on the 
Morning after a Storm at Sea" : 41 

On the fiery tossing wave, 

Calmly cradled dost thou sleep, 

When the midnight tempests rave, 
Lonely wanderer of the deep ! 

Far from earth's remotest trace, 
What impels thee thus to roam? 

What hast thou to mark the place, 
When thou seek'st thy distant home? 



Without star or magnet's aid, 
Thou thy faithful course dost keep; 

Sportive still, still undismay'd, 
Lonely wanderer of the deep! 

Alsop spent the last years of his life in the 
vicinity of New York. He died at Flatbush in 
1815. In his lifetime he was generally known 
as author of one of the most widely quoted elegies 

41 Kettell, in Specimens of American Poetry, Vol. II, 
p. 60. 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 185 

on Washington, and was honored for his transla- 
tions from the Eddas, and from Spanish and 
Italian. 42 

The sharpest wit among the Hartford writ- 
ers was Lemuel Hopkins. He used travesties and 
imagery which defied all poetic standards. As 
a physician he ranked among the progressive lead- 
ers of his day; in his memory the Hopkins Medi- 
cal Society was formed in 1826. 43 Born at Hop- 
kins Hill, in Waterbury, in 1750, he served as a 
soldier for a time, but lost no opportunity to study 
for the profession of medicine, which he had 
chosen in youth as a goal. After gaining some 
experience with two noted men of his day and 
state — Dr. Seth Bird, of Litchfield, and Dr. Jared 
Potter, of Wallingford — he settled in Hartford, 
in 1784, where he remained until his death six- 
teen years later. By success in his profession, and 
by his courageous advocacy of inoculation for 
small-pox, use of anaesthetics, and radical reme- 
dies for yellow fever, he gained repute outside 
his state and was often called into consultation. 
Yale conferred an honorary degree upon him. 

42 A Poem Sacred to the Memory of George Washington, 
etc., by Richard Alsop (Hartford, 1800; 23 pages, 8vo). For 
Msop's translations, see the Bibliography. 

43 A good account of Dr. Hopkins is in American Medical 
Biography ; or, Memoirs of Eminent Physicians Who Have 
flourished in America, by James Thacher, M.D. (Boston, 
[828), Vol. I, pp. 298-306. 



186 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Many traditions and local stories cluster about 
his personality. He was nervous, brusque, with 
keen eyes, and a peculiar, awkward gait. One 
story illustrates his brusqueness combined with 
faithfulness. On a stormy night he rode four 
miles to assure himself that a certain remedy was 
accomplishing the desired results. Arriving at 
the house, he entered, made a silent examination, 
refused to speak to any of the inmates, and rode 
away. He was a dreaded enemy of impostors and i 
quacks. Another anecdote indicates this trait. 
With Dr. Cogswell, he was attending a patient 
who was dying of tubercular disease. The sister 
of the sick girl unreasonably besought the doc- 
tors to use some "fever powders," which she had i 
bought from a peripatetic quack. Dr. Hopkins i 
asked her to bring the powders, announced that 
one and a half was recorded as the largest dose 
which it was safe to take, calmly mixed twelve 
of the powders in molasses, and swallowed them, 
remarking to his colleague: "Cogswell, I am go- ( j 
ing to Coventry today. If I die from this, you| 
must write on my tombstone: 'Here lies Hop- 
kins, killed by Grimes.' " 44 In indignation against j 
a "cancer doctor" who had troubled the neigh- 

** This anecdote, with others, may be found in Charles W. 
Everest, The Poets of Connecticut (Hartford, 1843). Here 
are also several of Hopkins' poems (pp. 51-58) : "Poland" 
(i775) J "On Gen. Ethan Allen," "Robespierre," "Gen. Wayne 
and the West," "Lines on the Yellow Fever," etc. 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 187 

borhood, he wrote the rugged verse, "On a 
Patient Killed by a Cancer Quack" : 

Here lies a fool, flat on his back, 
The victim of a cancer quack; 
Who lost his money and his life, 
By plaister, caustic and by knife. 

More dignified were the ironical stanzas, "The 
Hypocrite's Hope" : 

He tones like Pharisee sublime, 

Two lengthy prayers a day, 
The same that he from early prime, 

Has heard his father say. 



Good works he careth nought about, 

But faith alone will seek, 
While Sunday's pieties blot out, 

The knaveries of the week. 45 

A few letters from Dr. Lemuel Hopkins to 
his friend Oliver Wolcott, Jr., are in manuscript 
at the Connecticut Historical Society ; I have been 
given the privilege of quoting from them. One 
written in October, 1783, reveals Hopkins' wit 
and his interest in political affairs : 

I thank you for your inteligence & thoughts on 
politicks; but have not time to tell you my own. But 
I lament with you the ill aspect of our affairs, and am 
afraid to think much of the next scene for of late, when 
I have indulg'd such thoughts, the Ghost of a certain text 

"American Poems, Litchfield, (1793)1, P« * 39 ', Sam- 
uel Kettell, Specimens of American Poetry, Vol. I, p. 282. 



188 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

has grinn'd horrible at me a ghastly smile, — 'tis this — 
"Wo unto thee oh land when thy king is a fool." 

In a letter from Hartford, after his removal 
there from Litchfield, he refers to the American 
Antiquities {The Anarchiad) as having "given a 
considerable check to a certain kind of popular 
intrigue in this state." 

During the prevalence of small-pox in the sum- 
mer of 1793, he wrote to Mr. Wolcott regard- 
ing inoculation, which he practiced freely : 

This business is much like that of the Treasury De- 
partment in regard to existing jealousies, raising party 
spirit &c., yet, from certain causes, my particular mode 
of conducting it, in case of any suspicion of wrong meas- 
ures, does not admit of so unanswerable a justification. 

There are some philosophic sentences in the 
same letter regarding the influences of city and 
village life, which are interesting today: 

The more a man is among all sorts of people, the 
more fully will he learn the unmeasured difference there is j 
between the sentiments of newspapers, replete with local 
politics, and the opinions of an enlighten'd people in 
the peaceable and successful pursuit of wealth & happi- 
ness. — I find more & more that a busy set of wrong- 
heads can at pleasure stir up, for a time, any sentiments 
they please in cities — and that there is a great aptitude in 
most men to consider cities as worlds, or at least as the 
manufactories of sentiments for whole countries — and 
much of this may be true in the old world; but in N. ; 
England the contrary is, and ever will be true, as long 
as our schools, presses & Town-corporations last. 



A GROUP OF HARTFORD WITS 189 

With his shrewd insight into the diseases of 
individuals and of the nation, with his urgent 
desire for progress through education, Dr. Hop- 
kins was a good type of his time, and especially 
of this group of Connecticut writers. They were 
earnest, as well as witty; they sought to use their 
talents for the advance of industry and political 
sanity. Their writings mirrored many of the 
aspirations and fears of the period which fol- 
lowed the war and was concerned with the estab- 
lishment of stable government. 



JOSEPH DENNIE: "THE LAY 
PREACHER" 




JOSEPH DENNIE 
From portrait owned by his family; reproduced from Clapp's > 
Sketch of Dennie, 1880. 



VI 

JOSEPH DENOTE: "THE LAY 
PREACHER" 

Journalism is an altar on which have perished 
the hopes and fortunes of many. Today our 
libraries and homes are crowded with magazines 
of all degrees of merit and ranges of topics. Pub- 
lishers announce extraordinary figures of circu- 
lation of many of these journals ; others, of more 
intrinsic value, perish after a brief existence. 
The latter fate was the common lot of many in- 
teresting ventures in journalism during the earlier 
decades of American literature. The student 
who follows the lives of our pioneer authors, 
from Franklin to Charles Brockden Brown, will 
be impressed by the many fitful, short-lived 
journals by which these writers sought to pro- 
mote literary culture and progress in art and 
science. 

Freneau ventured and lost, both hopes and 
funds, in his later newspapers, which combined 
literature with politics. Brown devoted his ma- 
ture years to experiments in reviews, intended to 
educate the middle classes and make them ac- 
quainted with the best foreign authors, far too 
193 



194 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

unfamiliar to many Americans during the first 
quarter of the nineteenth century. 

One of the most prominent and successful of 
early American journalists was Joseph Dennie, 
known in his own day as "the Lay Preacher," or 
often as "the American Addison." He was born 
in Boston, August 30, 1768, but during his boy- 
hood his family moved to Lexington. He is as- 
sociated in literature with New Hampshire and 
Philadelphia. After studying at a commercial 
school in Boston, and at Samuel West's school at 
Needham, he entered Harvard in the sophomore 
class, in 1787. As a boy he wrote ambitious 
verses. His mother declared, with farcical pride : 

He wrote poetry in early life after the manner of 
Horace and various other modes but never pleased him- 
self His father persuaded him to quit a pursuit 

where he would kill himself with his own sword. 1 

At college, Dennie was a favorite with the 
students. Genial and merry, he was also im- 
petuous and ready to combat any injustice. Once 
he was absent from college because of illness. 
On his return, he was reprimanded by someone 

1 Sketch of Dennie in The Philadelphia Souvenir by John 
E. Hall (Philadelphia, 1826). Mr. Hall told here also of 
Dennie's hatred of arithmetic throughout his life. In mature 
years he spent more than a day puzzling over his landlady's 
problem of the cost of seven and three-fourths pounds of 
mutton at five and one fourth cents a pound and finally assured 
the lady that "the butcher was doubtless honest and she 
might safely pay her bill." 



JOSEPH DENNIE 195 

who did not know the circumstances. Serious 
differences arose between him and his tutors. He 
declaimed, with emphasis and vocal insult, one of 
Lord Chatham's speeches which could be con- 
strued as a direct affront to his tutors, and he was 
suspended for six months. He passed the time 
pleasantly in the home of a clergyman, Mr. Chap- 
lin, of Groton, who combined tutoring with moral 
influence. In one of his Lay Sermons! 1 Dennie 
referred to this episode in his college life, saying : 
"I lost my tutors and found a friend. It was 
like the exchange of armour between Glaucus and 
Diomede; it was brass for gold." He cherished 
his hurt pride, however, declaring that the action 
of the faculty had awakened in him "a prejudice 
which no time shall destroy." He was restored 
to membership in the college and his class by 
making a written appeal for pardon and rein- 
statement, and suffering a public reprimand be- 
fore the college. He did not forget the severe 
treatment, although he made no open defiance. 

His mother seemed to sympathize with his 
sensitive, fractious nature. She was the daughter 
of Bartholomew Green, Jr., who had been asso- 
ciated with his father as printer of the early news- 
paper, the Boston News Letter. Dennie was 
devoted to his mother. In tribute to her influence 
he wrote : "During the course of my pilgrimage 

2 "Interment of Saul," The Lay Preacher, 1817. 



196 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

I have found many friends but only one mother. 
For two and twenty years you have been uni- 
formly my guide and patroness." His father was 
less sympathetic and more thrifty, as was recalled 
by the son in his sermon "Of Precipitation" : 

In my boyhood, I remember that a parent would 
sometimes repeat lessons of economy as I sat upon his 
knees, and then lift me in his arms, that I might look 
at Hogarth's plates of Industry and Idleness. On youth- 
ful fancy the picture was more impressed than the pre- 
cept. 

After leaving college, Dennie decided to study 
law. His first inclination had been toward the 
ministry, but he said he gave up that because 
of "its starchedness of thinking and behaviour." 
He read law in the office of Mr. West, of Charles- 
town, New Hampshire, and thus began associa- 
tion with the vicinity where he was to gain his 
experience in journalism and his unique pseu- 
donym. With an impressive voice and manner, 
he was chosen to read the liturgy and lay sermons 
during a season of pastoral vacancy at the Epis- 
copal church in Charlestown. So well did he 
please the people that he was given a contract "for 
four months as a Reader at the rate of 24s per 
Sunday." 

At first he read sermons by noted preachers. 
Later he interpolated original sentences; and 
finally he began to preach an occasional lay ser- 






JOSEPH DENNIE 197 

mon of his own writing. This youthful service 
he recalled in after years, in one of his published 
Sermons: 

Many years ago I stood in a rustic pulpit, and was 
wont to address myself to the few villagers who thought 
my sermons worth listening to. It was literally the 
"voice of one crying in the wilderness," for the forest 
was frequently my study and my principal hearers a 
gurgling brook, a silent valley or an aged tree. I had 
but few of the fathers to consult and perused the best of 
books, not with Poole's, but my own commentary. 3 

He was urged to give up law and study the- 
ology. He could then be ordained as minister 
of the Charlestown church; the parish was will- 
ing to wait for him to take a theological course. 
It is evident, from chance references in his letters, 
that he considered the subject carefully before 
he decided in the negative. Moreover, he was 
much annoyed by the criticism passed upon him 
by some Boston friends regarding the propriety 
of his serving as a lay preacher. That a lawyer 
should officiate in a pulpit seemed to some a 
questionable practice. Even his honesty of re- 
ligious belief and expression was assailed, and his 
first Lay Sermons, as published in local news- 
papers, were called indecorous, if not irreligious. 

3 "Design of ihe Preacher," text from Solomon, 3:2 (The 
Lay Preacher, collected and arranged by John E. Hall, Esq., 
Counsellor at Law [Philadelphia, 1817]). See earlier editions 
of The Lay Preacher in the Bibliography. 



198 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Such slanders increased his resentment against 
Boston, although he returned there for a brief 
journalistic venture. 

While he defied these critics, he wished to vin- 
dicate his action to his parents. He wrote to 
them frankly : 

A casual glance on the ecclesiastical etiquette of 
Great Britain, which the Episcopalians here servilely 
copy, discovers to you, that a mere Readership does not 
in the least militate with my secular & lay employ- 
ments, that it demands not hypocrisy of heart or face 
but decency of life & such a mode of reading as your 
kindness, the instructions of Dame Rogers, and the boy- 
hood perusal of your little library have inspired. 

With a characteristic touch of egotism he adds : 

You know that my natural fluency is such that, when 
I have a stock of ideas, words of course will follow.* 

The last sentence seems to have been true, for 
he was fecund in words, both spoken and written, 
in the pulpit, in journals, and at the bar. His 
readiness with flowery language once brought | 
ridicule upon him in the courtroom. The story j 
has passed down in literary anecdote and may 
suggest a reason for his retirement from law. 5 
The case on trial involved a promissory note and 
its requital. In a style acquired by devotion to 

4 W. W. Gapp, Sketch of [Joseph] Dennie (Cambridge, 
1880). 

5 This story was told by Roy all Tyler in the New England I 
Galaxy, July 24, 1818; it is also given, with expansions, in 
The Philadelphia Souvenir, 1826. 



JOSEPH DENNIE 199 

Pope and Swift, the young attorney pictured, with 
artificial pathos, a home-scene in humble life. The 
panorama was vivid and glowing: "the taper's 
solitary ray glimmered," while the "children ran 
to lisp their sire's return." Then came the bailiff, 
"down whose hard, unmeaning face ne'er stole 
the pitying tear." Through "the pelting, pitiless 
storm the father was dragged to a loathsome 
prison." As Dennie grew more florid in his 
harangue, the farmer-judge was mystified, and 
confessed : 

I am in rather a kind o' a quandary; I profess I am 
somewhat dubus ; I can't say that I know for sartain 
what the young gentleman would be at. 

When some fellow-lawyer explained that Dennie 
wished to have the case postponed, the judge ex- 
claimed : 

Ay, now I believe I understand, — the young man 
wants the case to be hung up for the next term, duz he? 
Well, well, if that's all he wants, why couldn't he say so 
in a few words pat to the purpose, without all this larry 
cum lurry. 

Dennie had a keen sense of humor, and he was 
compelled to join in the general laugh at his 
expense; but he was disgusted with law in the 
rural districts and declared that he would make 
no further attempts "to batter down a mud wall 
with roses." 6 

6 J. T. Buckingham, Anecdotes, Personal Memoirs and 
Biographies of Literary Men (Boston, 1852), Vol. II, p. 175. 



200 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

He had evidently saved some money from his 
lay-reading and his practice of law, although the 
latter was not very lucrative nor long continued; 
for he wrote to his mother, while still in Charles- 
town: 

I am now worth 416 dollars, clear and unencumbered. 
I enjoy a high station on the rock of independence, un- 
scared, as Pope says, by the spectre of poverty, and I 
hope I shall be able to walk through life without a 
crutch. 7 

He had already begun to contribute a column 
of witty essays, "The Farrago," to the New 
Hampshire Journal and Farmer's Weekly 1 
Museum of Walpole, New Hampshire, which 
was started, in 1793, by David Carlisle, Jr., 
a native of the town and a "freed apprentice" of 
Isaiah Thomas, of Worcester, who had a 
printing-shop and bookstore in Walpole. On the 
last page of this little newspaper was "The 
Dessert," to which Dennie contributed. 

Some of these sketches by Dennie were re- 
printed in the Boston Centinel, and he was en- 
couraged to return to Boston for a journalistic 
venture. This was the Tablet, a twelve by eight 
sheet, whose issues as long as life lasted, from 1 
May 19 to August 11, 1795, may be found at the 

7 J. E. Hall, The Philadelphia Souvenir: A Collection of 
Fugitive Pieces from the Philadelphia Press, with Biographical 
and Explanatory Notes t ( Philadelphia, 1826). 



JOSEPH DENNIE ?oi 

Boston Public Library. 8 "The Farrago" was its 
leading feature, although current events in litera- 
ture, politics, and society were recorded. Here 
also appeared verses "From the Shop of Colon 
and Spondee." The chief writer of this dog- 
gerel was Royall Tyler, who was associated with 
Dennie under a similar pseudonym in the Farm- 
er's Museum and The Portfolio. Tyler's name is 
more closely related to the beginnings of drama 
through his play The Contrast, which is discussed 
in the next chapter. 

Tyler was practicing law at Brattleboro, Ver- 
mont, and became a warm friend to Dennie when 
the latter returned from Boston to Walpole. 
Dennie was a great admirer of his friend, who 
was ten years older. Together they planned liter- 
ary schemes and read classic authors. Dennie was 
more adroit and polished than Tyler. The latter's 
humor was puerile, and his stanzas were weak 
and too alliterative, as "From Fond Frederic to 
Fanny False Fair." He could write more worthy 
odes, like one for the Fourth of July, 1799. 9 The 
two friends were marked contrasts in looks and 
mental traits. Tyler, with his plain, stolid face, 

8 Files of this journal are also at the Lenox Library and 
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. It was "Dedicated 
to the Belles-Lettres," and published by William Spotswood, 
of Marlborough Street 

• Kettell, Specimens of American Poetry, Vol. II, p. 48. 



202 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

high forehead, and hair unadorned, was quite 
different from handsome Dennie, with "befrizzled 
ear-locks," pea-green coat, silk stockings, shoes 
with huge buckles and generous bows. 10 

Dennie was gay and dilatory; Tyler was 
prompt and careful. Dennie often wrote his best 
under pressure. The printing-shop of Walpole 
was next to the Crafts Tavern, and Tyler recalls 
an incident when Dennie was forced to finish his 
"Lay Sermon" in great haste. He was playing 
cards at the tavern, when the printer's boy came 
in with a demand for the copy which Dennie had 
promised. The latter ignored the summons as 
long as he could, but was compelled at last to yield 
his "hand" to a neighbor while "he gave the devil 
his due." 

The year after Dennie had failed with The 
Tablet in Boston, he undertook the editorship of 
the Farmer's Weekly Museum. 11 He was in- 
ventive and introduced several features which 
gave popularity to the journal for a few months. 
There were political lampoons by "Simon 
Spunkey," or F. T. G. Fessenden, sketches by 
"The Meddler," and "The Hermit," and jocose 

10 J. T. Buckingham, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 195-202. 

11 The full name of this paper was The New Hampshire 
and Vermont Journal; or Farmer's Weekly Museum. A com- 
plete file is at the American Antiquarian Society. A Sum- 
mary of its contents is in The Spirit of the Farmer's Museum 
and Lay Preacher's Gazette (Walpole, 1801). 



JOSEPH DENNIE 203 

verse and prose from "The Shop of Colon and 
Spondee." Several men in the neighborhood 
formed a literary club and contributed at times 
to Dennie's paper. Among the members, beside 
Tyler, were Jeremiah Mason, Major Bullard, 
Samuel Hunt, and Royal Vose, the last two after- 
ward members of Congress. 12 

The metrical announcement of the journal 
emphasized its aims. Its motto was : "Ho, every 
one that thirsteth for novelty, Come!" 

To greet each good and letter'd man, 

A Journal form'd on generous plan, 

None of your dull, mechanic Dutch things, 

But fraught with poetry and such things; 

With politicians, wise as Solon, 

With PREACHER, HERMIT, SPONDEE, COLON, 

With pointed, pithy, pretty PETER, 

Whom ladies called the charming creature. 13 

In adition to the bagatelles and squibs, there 
were serious essays of educational and literary 
kinds — biographical studies of contemporary 
American authors, among them Trumbull and 
Barlow, and of statesmen, like John Adams and 
Oliver Wolcott. Extracts from English authors, 
with comments, were given freely ; there was also 

12 George Aldrich, Walpole as It Was and as It Is (Clare- 
mont, 1880), pp. 74-82. 

13 This last contributor was Isaac Story, known as "Peter 
Quince," rival and cousin of "Peter Pindar." 



204 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

a summary of foreign news. There was an occa- 
sional stanza of wit, as — 

Women were born, so fate declares, 
To smoothe our linen and our cares; 
And 'tis but just, for by my troth, 
They're very apt to ruffle both. 

The climax of popularity under Dennie's 
editorship seemed to be in December, 1797, when 
the editor wrote : 

The constant swell of our subscription book suggests 
a theme to our gratitude, and a motive to our industry. 
The Farmer's Museum is read by more than two thou- 
sand individuals and has its patrons in Georgia and on 
the banks of the Ohio. 14 

In spite of such bright prospects, and the fact 
that the paper kept a neutral attitude in politics 
until 1800, when it became Federal, the journal 
was constantly threatened with financial disaster, 
and Isaiah Thomas bore the losses from three 
failures within a few years. Dennie, as editor, 
soon began to make appeals for "punctual pay- 
ment," adding of the rights of the editor : "Like 
every other industrious workman, he has a right 
to bread, and sometimes, to write all cheerily, he 
ought to have wine." 

Perhaps too much of Dennie's time and money 
went for this tonic to merry writing. At least so 

14 Farmer's Museum, December 4, 1797; quoted also by 
Aldrich, op. cit., p. 80. 



JOSEPH DENNIE 205 

the veteran newspaper worker, J. T. Buckingham, 
relates in citing his experiences as a boy in the 
office of the Farmer s Museum} 5 Here he was 
an apprentice at sixteen years, but found that he 
was expected "to treat" soon after he entered the 
office. He was "nagged" for a few days, until 
he conformed to what seemed to be the custom of 
the place. He said : "I spent more than half the 
small amount of money I possessed for brandy, 
wine, sugar, eggs and crackers." 

Throughout his life Dennie was accused of 
overindulgence in light wines, but his best friends 
defended him from the charge of being an inebri- 
ate in any sense. In this connection we recall a 
story told by Griswold 16 about Dennie and 
Timothy Dwight. It occurred some years after 
Dennie had left Walpole and was editing The 
Portfolio in Philadelphia. In the days of limited 
stage and hotel accommodations, Timothy Dwight, 
then president of Yale, arrived at a New Jersey 
inn one evening and was able to secure a com- 
fortable room. Soon afterward Dennie reached 
the same tavern, but was told that all the rooms 
were occupied, and nearly all the guests "paired" 
except the college president. The host was un- 
willing to disturb so illustrious a man by offering 

15 Buckingham, op. cit., Vol. I, p. 25. 

18 Curiosities of [.American'] Literature (New York, 1848), 
P. 51. 52. 



206 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

him a roommate, but Dennie begged to be allowed 
to plead his case with Dr. Dwight, saying : "Al- 
though I am a stranger to the reverend doctor 
perhaps I can bargain with him for my lodgings." 
President Dwight received his caller with digni- 
fied grace, and the two men were soon discussing 
statesmen and authors of the day, although Den- 
nie did not reveal his identity. After a time 
Dwight mentioned, among the promising writers, 
"Joseph Dennie, the editor of The Portfolio, the 
Addison of the United States, and the father of 
American Belles-Lettres." Praising his writings, 
he said : "But is it not astonishing, that a man 
of such genius, fancy and feeling, should aban- 
don himself to the inebriating bowl and to Bac- 
chanalian revels?" "Sir," said Dennie, "you are 
mistaken. I have been intimately acquainted with 
Dennie for several years and I never knew or saw 
him intoxicated." "Sir," said Dr. Dwight, "you 
err; I have my information from a particular 
friend. I am confident that I am right and that 
you are wrong." Dropping the subject, Dennie led 
the conversation to educational topics and spoke 
of Dr. Dwight, of Yale, as "the most learned 
theologian, first logician and greatest poet 
America had ever produced. But there are traits 
in his character unworthy so great and wise a 
man — of the most detestable description — he is 
the greatest bigot and dogmatist of the age." 



JOSEPH DENNIE 207 

"Sir," said Dr. Dwight, with anger, "you are 
grossly mistaken. I am intimately acquainted 
with Dr. Dwight and I know to the contrary." 
"Sir," said Dennie, "you are mistaken. I have 
it from an intimate acquaintance of his, who I 
am confident would not tell an untruth." Rising, 
with dismissal in his manner, Dr. Dwight said : 
"No more slander; I am Dr. Dwight of whom 
you speak." "And I," exclaimed Dennie, merrily, 
"am Mr. Dennie of whom you spoke." 

The Farmer's Museum survived its financial 
crisis in the spring of 1797 and recovered to a 
new season of favor, as we have shown; but 
Dennie evidently left the paper in charge of a new 
manager, Alexander Thomas, and went to Boston 
for a few weeks. Two letters to Hon. Jeremiah 
Mason, written by Dennie from Boston in August, 
1797, are of interest and value in placing his 
absence from Walpole, and also as indicating his 
social tastes. 17 The first letter was dated Boston, 
August 6, 1797: 

From the ennui which you apprehended I should ex- 
perience in a counting-room I was relieved, the day you 
left town, by the company of Jos. Barrell and a Mr. 
Morewood, a youthful Englishman of some promise. But 
greater things were reserved for me. For at five o'clock 
I found myself, by Barrell's civility, at his chateau and 
by his daughter's side. Be assured I was very eloquent 

17 Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, March, 
1880. Vol. XVII, pp. 362-65. 



208 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

on this joyful occasion But among the many great 

events which agitate this puddle called Boston, the ar- 
rival of John Adams is one. People here tell me it is 
wise to make my rustic bow to the great man, and I must 
dine with the king tomorrow and drink some two dozen 
such perplexed toasts as the bungling creatures here 
give. 

From the tone of this and the following letter 
it is evident that Dennie was still resentful toward 
his native town. The second letter was written 
August 25 of the same year : 






I have had the honor of making two bows to the 
President and receiving three. About three hundred 
guests were bidden to the feast, and I am sorry to say 
that the toasts were followed by clamorous hootings and 
applause quite in the French style. All this is suited to 
the taste of the Bostonians, who are unquestionably the 
merest boys at all kinds of play. 

I find strong sense, urban manners, and Elsworth's 
energy in Cabot. He amuses me by his political zeal, and \ 
instructs me by his worldly wisdom. Moreover, he -\ 
giveth good dinners, and, sinner that I am, I think 
partridge at least as palatable as politics. 

There is here a kind of would-be literary club. It 
meets each Wednesday, and consists of certain lawyers, di- i 

vines, quacks, and merchants They are all lazy; 

and reversing the ancient rule of the symposium, they 
convene rather to eat, than talk, together. 

On his return to Walpole and the journal, , 
Dennie wrote for its columns one of his cheerful 
sermons from the text, "Here am I, for thou 1 



JOSEPH DENNIE 209 

didst call me." 18 Emphasizing the good results 
of his sojourn amid the fashions and culture of 
the city, he said : 

While I was mingling with the crowd on 'change, 
lounging in the book-seller's shops, arguing in a coffee- 
house, or chatting with sensible women round a supper- 
able, I was in fact composing Lay Preachers. The 
process, though invisible, still continued. I entered hints 
n my note-book, though I did not expand them in the 
Museum and kept for future use the fruit of my ob- 
ervations, as my prudent and tender mother used to 
tore for me autumnal russetings to bless my infant 
palate in the scarce and spring time. 

A pointed appeal for subscriptions and pay- 
nent of the same, in the Farmer s Museum for 
February 11, 1799, showed that another struggle 
or existence was upon the journal. As a ven- 
ure it appeared in a more ornate and expanded 
orm, April 1, 1799. For this issue Dennie wrote 
[l clever remonstrance against the silly tricks of 
'All Fools' Day," then so commonly played. He 
nquired : "Why mankind are so anxious to form 
ools when the business seems to be fully done?" 
-Vith evidence of his own love of nature, he 
.dvised : 

This day should indeed be a festal one but not dedi- 
ated to "idiot laughter" and the petty tricks of child- 
.ood. It should be a kind of vernal thanksgiving. The 
oddess, Flora, rather than Folly, should have our vows. 

18 He used the same text for a later sermon while editing 
'he Portfolio. 



210 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

In spite of the discouragements and financial! 
losses which Dennie shared with his partners in J 
the vacillating fortunes of this journal, hel 
gained some returns in fame and money from] 
publishing at the same press, in 1796, the first! 
volume of The Lay Preacher } Q In a sentimentaJ 
preface to these collected "sermons" he outlinec 
his aim and his literary hopes : 

To instruct the villager, was his primary objectij 
Hence, an easy and obvious stile was indispensable. Tc 
rise to the gorgeous phrase of BOLINGBROKE would have 
been absurd, to sink to the vulgarity of L'ESTRANGI 
would have been ignominious. The familiarity of FRANK- 
LIN'S manner, and the simplicity of STERNE'S provec 
most auxiliary to his design. He therefore, adventurec 
their union. Diffident of success, and prepared for cen- 
sure, he will not be surprised at a harsh sentence fron 
the critical tribunal. The vanity of authorship has all 
ready caused him to prove the negligence of his NATAI 
TOWN ; the same passion now urges him to tn 
suffrages of his COUNTRY. Should this, like the 
former attempts, slide rapidly down the slope of obliv 
ion, it will add the last item to the catalogue of literan 
disappointments and CURE THE AUTHOR. 

Through the circulation of this volume, and oi 
the journals where his contributions had appeared 
Dennie had won considerable reputation for 
mental alertness and a fluent style, according tc 
the tastes of that day. He was offered position; 

19 The Lay Preacher ; or, Short Sermons for Idle Reader 
(Walpole, 1796; 132 pages, i6mo) ; Preface, pp. iii, iv. 



JOSEPH DENNIE 211 

in journalism in New York and Philadelphia, and 
possibly elsewhere. He hoped to go from New 
Hampshire to Congress, but failed to win in the 
election. While he was debating with himself 
which place he should choose as editor, another 
)pportunity came, which combined a larger, 
issured salary with a good opportunity to wield 
)oth political and literary influence. This was an 
jffer to become private secretary to Timothy 
dickering, then secretary of state. The corre- 
pondence which led to the acceptance of this 
josition by Dennie, affording revelations of his 
:gotism and flowery language, is still extant, and 
s printed by permission. 20 

The first letter was from Dennie to Lewis R. 
vlorris, f rom Walpole, February 10, 1799. After 
lanking his friend for recommending him to the 
Department of State, he explains his unfitness for 
ny other departments : 

I My talents are not warlike, and Mr. McHenry would 
'nd me a miserable tactician. The meanest clerk in the 
ffice of Wolcott, 21 would detect and deride my fiscal 
lability; and I am too much of a landsman to compre- 
end the nautical lore of Stoddert If I enter into 

20 These letters are in the Massachusetts Historical So- 
iety; the Pickering Papers, Vol. X, No. 644; Vol. XXIV, 

os. 45, 275, 287 ; Vol. XIII, No, 557. 

21 References here are to the secretaries of war, the treas- 
ry, and the navy at that time. Pickering Papers, Vol. XXIV, 
0. 45. 



212 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 



. 



the service of government I expect that exertion will be r 
quired, and I am willing to make it. Considering this as 
a stepping-stone to views more enlarged and ambitious, 
I am abundantly sensible that these will never be grati- 
fied, without a satisfactory fulfilment of my initial tasks. 

With characteristic vanity, he asks to be called 
"confidential secretary," saying: 

The term clerk is hardly soothing enough to my 
pride; it might disgust that of my family; and you, in 
your noble spirit of candour, will forgive, what only 
wears the appearance of dictation, and results from my 
well-known love to whatever has gloss, and some sort 
of high colouring about it. 

The second letter in the series is from Timothy 
Pickering to Lewis R. Morris, Esq., dated Phila- 
delphia, April 29, 1799: 

I have just received your letter of the 21st respecting 
Mr. Dennie. I have room for him in my office and shall 
now be glad to employ him. If with his genius and taste, 
he can in a sufficient degree relinquish the pursuits of 
literature, and submit to the drudgery of business, it 
will give me much pleasure to have been in any degree 
instrumental in availing the public of the benefit of his 
talents. His compensation may be eight hundred, or a 
thousand dollars a year, according to the time his health 
(which I understood you was delicate) may permit him 
to apply to the public service. 

It seems as if Dennie was very dilatory after 
receiving the first letter from Pickering, just 
quoted, both in his answer and also in arrange- 
ments for moving to Philadelphia. His reasons 



JOSEPH DENNIE 213 

were almost hidden under the verbiage of the two 
letters which he wrote to Pickering, May 26, 
1799, and June 1, 1799. In the first he accepts 
the position with effusion and announces that he 
will go "expeditiously," but adds, in apparent con- 
tradiction of the last word : 

But, as my health is not confirmed, and as I cannot 
definitely ascertain the number of days, business here 
and a parent's tenderness, at home, may detain me, you 
will permit me, Sir, to apprize you, by no very distant 
post, of the time, when I shall have the pleasure of 
hearing and obeying your official commands. 

In the second letter he asks for further extension 
of time, because he feels that he must give three 
months' notice to the printers of the Farmer's 
Museum, saying: "Good faith obliges me to 
comply entirely with the spirit of my promise." 

The result of Dennie's service in the office of 
Pickering may be best revealed in a letter from 
the latter to John Marshall, about a year after the 
above correspondence. 22 One is not surprised to 
read here the criticisms on Dennie's efficiency as a 
:lerk : 

Mr. Dennie will have the honor to present to you 
:his letter. Desirous of being at the seat of government, 
ind to be relieved from the drudgery of editing a news- 
paper for a very inadequate compensation, his friend 
jen'l Morris recommended him for a place in the de- 

22 Letter dated June 27, 1800 (Pickering Papers, Vol. 
BII, No. 557). 



214 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 






partment of State. But I cannot, because I ought not, 
to conceal from you, that Mr. Dennie's habits and 
literary turn — I should rather say, his insatiable appetite 
for knowledge, useful as well as ornamental, render his 
service as a clerk less productive than the labours of : 
many dull men. 

He still wishes, however, to renew his attendance in 
the department of State, to make a fresh essay to serve 
his country, provide for his own support, and promote 
his ultimate views of rendering, in another line, more 
important benefits to his fellow citizens and to mankind. 
He therefore, being a perfect Stranger to you, has asked 
of me a letter of introduction. You will be gratified by j 
the proofs he will give you of an enlightened mind, and 
with his admirable manners ; and I am sure you will be 
inclined to the most liberal indulgence of his laudable 
proposition. 

After reading this last letter, one can better 
understand why, in the latter part of 1800, Den- 
nie again turned to journalism for his income, 
establishing in December of that year a new; 
journal in Philadelphia, The Portfolio. He wasj 
joined in this enterprise by Asbury Dickens. He 
had continued his contributions of occasional ser-j 
mons to the Farmer's Museum, and had written 
editorials for Fenno's Gazette of the United* 
States, the Federal organ which had survived and j 
gained in favor, after its experience as a rival of 
Freneau's National Gazette. Dennie modeled his 
new paper after The Tablet, the early Boston ven- 
ture, but The Portfolio was long-lived and existed, 



JOSEPH DENNIE 215 

in varied forms, from 1801 to 1 827. 2 3 The 
motto, chosen from Cowper, might well apply to 
all journalistic efforts of that age : 
Various,— that the mind 
Of desultory man, studious of change, 
And pleas'd with novelty, may be indulg'd. 

A large sheet of "Announcement" accompa- 
nied the first number : 

A YOUNG MAN, once known among village-readers, 
as the humble historian of the hour, the conductor of a 
'Farmers Museum and a Lay Preacher's Gazette, 
again offers himself to the public as a volunteer editor. 
Having, as he conceives, a right to vary, at pleasure, his 
fictitious name he now, for higher reasons than any 
fickle humour might dictate, assumes the appelation of 
OLD SCHOOL. Fond of this title, indicative of his 
moral, political and literary creed, he proposes publishing 
every Saturday, on a super-royal quarto sheet 

A NEW WEEKLY PAPER to be called 

THE PORT FOLIO 

by Oliver Oldschool, Esq. 

He commented on the Lilliputian page as an 
experiment, like that of "a saving grocer, who 
^ives of his goods only a small sample," and de- 
:lared his purpose to offer "something tolerable 

23 From 1 80 1 to 1808 the Portfolio was a weekly; from 
809 to 1 81 8 it was a monthly; in later years its publica- 
ion was generally as a monthly or a quarterly. Files of this 
ournal are found at many libraries throughout the country; 
•erfect files are in Philadelphia and New York. Nicholas 
Middle succeeded Dennie as editor. 



216 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

on political, literary, and transient topics and 
something auxiliary to sound principles which, 
after church, 'retired leisure' may read on Sun- 
day." 

Although this journal was essentially designed 
as a literary organ, it was strongly Federalist, and 
was disliked and parodied by Jefferson's friends 
as the "Portable Foolery." 24 During the first 
two years Dennie criticized Jefferson freely and 
indulged in strictures even upon the Declaration 
of Independence. For such fearless politics he 
was arrested and charged, in 1804, with being the 
editor of "a seditious publication against the gov- 
ernment." He was acquitted, but the tone of his 
journal henceforth was less virulent. He was a 
pronounced Federalist or Republican from his 
youth, and would not listen to any enticing offers 
to edit Democratic newspapers. He was once 
offered a large salary to edit the Independent 
Chronicle of Boston, but refused, expressing his 
convictions in extravagant language, thus : 

If he had offered me $120,000,000 annually to conduct e 
Democratic paper, I must have refused the offer, Ill 
would have belied my feelings, my habits, my principles 
my conscience. I should have been an infinite apostate. 25 j 

Dennie was a social favorite in Philadelphia! 

1 

2 * See Scharf and Westcott, History of Philadelphia (Phila 
delphia, 1884), Vol. I, pp. 508, 509. 

25 W. W. Clapp, Sketch of Dennie, 1882. 



JOSEPH DENNIE 217 

from the first days there. He was instrumental 
in forming the Tuesday Club, a social organiza- 
tion with literary aims. He was a fine story- 
teller, and was in demand for convivial occasions 
wherever he might be. One of the vivid pic- 
tures of Dennie, as a companion, is given by 
Josiah Quincy, of Boston, 26 who was a college 
classmate of Dennie and a friend throughout life. 
Speaking of Dennie's mental equipment, as com- 
pared with that of other classmates, this friend 
said: 

The most talented, taking light literature as the 
standard, was Joseph Dennie, whose acquaintance with the 
best English classics was uncommon at that period. His 
imagination was vivid, and he wrote with great ease and 

felicity While at college he might unquestionably 

have taken the highest rank in his class, for he had great 
happiness both in writing and elocution; but he was negli- 
gent in his studies and not faithful to the genius with 
which nature had endowed him. 

In reminiscence of his father's conversations 
regarding Dennie, Edmund Quincy wrote : 

Mr. Dennie was a most charming companion, brilliant 
in conversation, fertile in allusion and quotation, abound- 
ing in wit, quick at repartee, and of only too jovial a dis- 
position. My father used to tell of the gay dinners which 
elebrated the not infrequent visits Mr. Dennie made him 
when he was keeping house with his mother. On these 
white days he would summon the flower of the youth of 

26 Life of Josiah Quincy, by his son, Edmund Quincy (Bos- 
:on, 1867), p. 30. 



218 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Boston to enjoy the society of their versatile friend, and 
the festivity which set in at the sober hour of two would 
reach far into the night before the party were willing to 
break up. 

When The Portfolio was established, Dennie 
summoned all his friends with literary tastes to 
contribute, and the columns of the journal, if 
carefully studied, reveal some interesting writers 
and men of prominence in affairs and science. 
General Thomas Cadwallader wrote translations 
from Horace ; Joseph Hopkinson contributed both 
prose and verse ; Charles Brockden Brown and his 
brother-in-law, John Blair Linn, were among the 
writers whose authorship can be attested. Gou- 
venor Morris, Samuel Ewing, and Mrs. Sarah 
E. Hall were other writers of the day who assisted 
Dennie. Josiah Quincy contributed a series of 
papers, signed "Climenole," satirical and spicy; 
their authorship was long a secret. 27 As in pre- 
vious ventures, Dennie had support from "The 
Shop of Colon and Spondee;" other writers con- 
tributed more serious reviews and accounts of 
travels. Among the latter sort were "Letters 
from Silesia," found in earlier issues of The Port- \ 
folio. These letters were by John Quincy Adams, 
who was then traveling abroad with his wife, on 
account of the latter's ill health. The letters came 

27 op. tit., P . 33. 



JOSEPH DENNIE 219 

into Dennie's possession in a peculiar way. 28 They 
were written to the brother of Mr. Adams in 
Philadelphia. He was a friend of Dennie, and the 
latter, when allowed to read the letters, was so 
delighted that he begged to include them un- 
signed in his journal. The owner consented, and 
they appeared in twenty-nine numbers, forming 
an interesting feature of The Portfolio. At first 
the writer of the letters did not know of their 
use ; later he was powerless or unwilling to inter- 
fere. They became so popular that an unknown 
individual reprinted them in London, for his own 
profit, in 1804, and three years later they were 
translated into German and French. 

Among the Adams papers, owned by Charles 
Francis Adams, are two unpublished letters from 
Dennie to John Quincy Adams, which I have 
been permitted to use. The first, dated Septem- 
ber 17, 1804, refers to the London publication of 
these Letters. It is in Dennie's usual fluent and 
obsequious style : 

I perceive by the Public papers, that "Letters from 
Silesia," &c, have been published in your name in the 
city of London. You will add to those numerous acts of 
kindness, with which you have often obliged and honoured 
me, if by the return of Post, you will mention whether 
this book has been thus printed with your consent. Your 
correspondence with the Port Folio has been for some 

28 See Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, edited by Charles 
Francis Adams (Philadelphia, 1877), Vol. I, p. 240, 241. 



220 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

time, relinquished. Be assured, Sir, I employ no false, 
or dissembling compliment, when I express the delight I 
feel in perusing any of your literary productions, and my 
sorrow that any cause should for a single week, deprive 
me of the valued assistance of a classical coadjutor. 

Whatever you choose to write for my Journal, I 
will always promptly impart to the Public. I inhibit no 
topics, I suggest no style; but I intreat that you will still 
continue to benefit me, by the dictates of your Judgement, 
and the productions of your Taste. 

The second letter was in answer to a word of 
remonstrance from John Quincy Adams against 
the publication, in The Portfolio, of such unre- 
liable, inferior articles as a series entitled "The 
British Spy," which had appeared during the 
autumn of this same year, 1804. 29 The letters 
had some gossipy passages, designed to ferment 
political feeling regarding Theophilus Parsons, as 
tool of a junto and of John Adams. Dennie has 
made the only defense that I have found in this 
interesting letter to Mr. Adams : 
My dear Friend. 

A bundle of lucubrations with the title of the "British 
Spy," was left at my lodgings, by some person unknown. 
They were inclosed in a letter, without a signature, and I 
was requested to give them a place in the Port Folio. 

29 See the Portfolio, Letter II, November 10, 1804. The 
inference was that Parsons refused the appointment offered 
by John Adams. In a note, after Letter IV, November 24, | 
1804, Dennie urged the writer to verify his statements, cor- 
rected this special one, but praised the letters. There were 
no more, however. 



JOSEPH DENNIE 221 

Occupied with the care of an edition of Shakespeare, and 
of Sir W. Jones, the only paper I perused was the first 
of the Series. Though I was offended by the tumid and 
Asiatic stile, which the anonymous author thought proper 
to employ, I thought it would not be disagreeable to the 
Public, and possibly might be pleasant to the Bostonians, 
if I gave a place to what from a very cursory glance, I 
deemed not dishonourable to my native town. 

The second letter containing the offensive paragraph, 
of which you so justly complain, was not perused by me, 
until after publication. The instant that I read it, and 
some days prior to the receipt of your letter of expostula- 
tion, although I did not know with precision, the state of 
facts, I deemed the paragraph a gossiping anecdote of 
Jacobinical origin, I estimated it as a lye, accordingly, 
and resolved, at the end of the series, hitherto received, 
which will be printed, on the Saturday of the current 
week, to express my frank opinion of the falsity of the 
article, and to warn the author against hazarding such 
random calumny. I feel with very acute sensibility 
wounded, that you should suppose for an instant, that I 
could willingly lend a lye the confidence of Truth. If you 
knew me more intimately you would very distinctly per- 
ceive that I was never found to retail Scandal for any 
individual, or any Junto; and that though I have lived 
more than Thirty years in a Republic, I have not yet 
learned to be ungrateful to those who have showed me 
kindness. 

Within the columns of The Portfolio were 
selected passages from contemporary English 
writers of both prose and verse, with interpreta- 
tive comments. On December 19, 1801, as an ex- 
ample appeared Wordsworth's "Lucy Gray" and 



222 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

"Eglantine." with praises for "the genuine poet 
who has forsaken the necromantic realms of Ger- 
man extravagance, and the torrid zone of Delia 
Cruscan ardour and has recalled erring readers 
from sounds to things, from fancy to the heart." 
What a pity that Dennie could not have applied 
to his own style some of the Wordsworthian 
simplicity and clearness ! 

The visit of Thomas Moore to Philadelphia, 
in the spring of 1812, was an event of great sig- 
nificance in the life of Dennie. Moore's grateful 
memories of this American writer are almost the 
only words of recognition given to Dennie by any 
author outside the narrow circle of his friends. 
Moore had been disappointed in his reception at 
Xew York and Washington, but the cordiality 
with which he was greeted by Dennie and his 
coterie did much to soften his bitterness. Xot 
alone was he feted during the few days of his 
stay in Philadelphia, but his coming was heralded 
in The Portfolio for some weeks before his ar- 
rival. As early as April 21, 1804, Moore's poem 
"To Julia" — one of many of this title — was 
printed with the note of praise for "this recent 
poet who is much admired in England for the 
singular sweetness of his versification, and for a 
certain glow in his descriptions, mildly ardent, 
like the setting suns of Claude,''' True to his 
promise, in another issue Dennie selected many 



JOSEPH DEXXIE 223 

examples of Moore's poems, especially from the 
translations of Anacreon. 30 

Moore appreciated his attentions in Phila- 
delphia, in June, 1804. To Dennie's journal he 
contributed freely many of the poems, which ap- 
peared later in English magazines, but were 
printed here first, often with the prefatory words, 
"Printed from the Author's Manuscript." In 
The Portfolio for July 14 is "A Birthday Song" 
by Moore which refers to these cordial, new- 
found friends: 

In every eye around I mark, 
The feelings of the heart o'erflowing; 

From every soul I catch the spark 
Of sympathy, in friendship flowing. 

More familiar, as testimony by Moore, are his 
"Lines on Leaving Philadelphia," which were sent 
in a letter to Dennie, July 2, 1804, and first 
printed in his journal. The poem was dedicated 
to Mrs. Joseph Hopkinson, whose sympathetic 
singing of Moore's songs had assured him, 
though a stranger, that — 
The lays of his boyhood had stol'n to their ear, 

And they loved what they knew of so humble a name; 
And they told him, with flattery, welcome and dear, 

That they found in his heart something better than fame. 

30 Copies of The Portfolio from April to September, 1804, 
contain many of Moore's poems, with comment, as ''The 
Wedding Ring," "To the Invisible Girl," "Rondeau," "Written 
in a Common-Place Book," and many poems "To Julia." 



224 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

The stranger is gone — but he will not forget, 
When at home he shall talk of the toils he has known, 

To tell, with a sigh, what endearments he met. 
As he stray'd by the wave of the Schuylkill alone. 31 









Moore kept his pledge of remembrance. He 
wrote his mother about his Philadelphia friends 
and gave them special mention in the metrical 
"Letter to the Hon. W. R. Spencer," where he 
extolled 

ye sacred few, 
Whom late by Delaware's green banks I knew; 
Whom, known and loved through many a social eve, 
'Twas bliss to live with and 'twas pain to leave. 
Not with more joy the lonely exile scann'd 
The writing traced upon the desert's sand, 
Where his lone heart but little hop'd to find 
One trace of life, one stamp of human kind, 
Than did I hail the pure, th' enlightened zeal, 
The strength to reason, and the warmth to feel, 
The manly polish and th' illumined taste, 
Which — mid the melancholy, heartless waste 
My foot has travers'd, — oh, ye sacred few ! 
I found by Delaware's green banks with you. 

To his mother, Moore wrote of his reception il 
in Philadelphia : "It is the only place in America 
which can boast any literary activity/' 32 In the 



31 This poem, in Moore's handwriting, and two letters 
by him to Dennie are owned by Mrs. Oliver Hopkinson. They 
were printed in the Critic, June, 1888. 

32 Memoirs, Journals and Correspondence of Thomas Moore 
(London, 1856), Vol. I, p. 164. 



JOSEPH DENNIE 225 

same vein of unjust criticism, but flattering ex- 
perience, he said in the appendix to his poems : 

In the society of Mr. Dennie and his friends at Phila- 
delphia, I passed the few agreeable moments which my 
tour through the states afforded me. Mr. Dennie has suc- 
ceeded in diffusing through this cultivated little circle 
that love for good literature and sound politics which he 
feels so zealously himself and which is very rarely the 
characteristic of his countrymen. 

Among other allusions in Moore's letters to his 
mother is one to "two or three little poems of a 
flattering kind" which were addressed to him in 
Philadelphia. These may be found in The Port- 
folio for September 8, 22, and 29, 1804. The 
third was an ambitious ode, sung at a dinner to 
Moore just as he was leaving the city. In mock- 
heroic verse, the gods are represented in conclave 
over the seeming dulness of earth, and the need 
of some new spirit of poetry to waken man, as 
did Anacreon of old. To their suggestions Jupi- 
ter replies in the concluding stanza : 

I love well these mortals, though sometimes they err, 
And blessings abundant upon them will pour; 

The promise thus made, not an instant defer, 

You ask for Anacreon, but I will give MOORE. 33 

By inheritance Dennie had slight endurance, 
and his life of conviviality, while it never became 
debauchery, tended to reduce his vigor. Without 

33 These poems were signed "Mercutio" and C. H — d. 



226 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 






the restraints or the comforts of a home-life, he 
was careless and irregular in his hours of meals 
and sleep, and often seemed desperate to snatch 
all the zestful pleasures which he could. The 
inevitable day of reckoning came, and he died in 
January, 1812, when only forty-three years old. 
Various eulogistic paragraphs appeared soon 
after his death in the press of Philadelphia and 
New York. His own journal devoted much space 
to a "Mortuary," 34 appended to the February 
number. A poem, full of absurd over-praise and 
strained meters, was followed by a prose eulogy 
somewhat less extravagant, in which his personal 
traits and his aim throughout life were duly em- 
phasized. Of the former the writer said: 

So full of urbanity and gentleness were his manners 
— so amiable his deportment, that none could approach, 
without loving a man from whom there never escaped an 
unkind expression — who, in his graver mood, was an in- 
structive friend, and in his social hours, a most gay and 
captivating companion. 

The chief motive of his life was recalled, in 
language too ornate to be effective, but with truth 
in the thought : 

The great purpose of all his exertions, the uniform 

34 The Portfolio, February, 1812 ; 12 pages with black bor- 
der, signed "A." Possibly this was Paul Allen, who was 
associated with Dennie during the last months of his editor- 
ship. Premonitions of Dennie's illness and death were in the 
last volume of The Portfolio which he edited. 



JOSEPH DENNIE 227 

pursuit of his life, was to disseminate among his country- 
men a taste for elegant literature, to give to education and 
to letters their proper elevation in the public esteem, and 
reclaiming the youth of America from the low career of 
sordid interests to fix steadfastly their ambition on objects 
of a more exalted character. In this honourable enterprize, 
he stood at first almost alone. But such is the power of a 
single mind in awakening the talents of a whole nation, so 
easily may the pliant materials of public opinion be 
moulded by the plastic hand of genius, that the establish- 
ment of his work may be considered as forming an aera 
in the literary history of America. 35 

Six years after the death of Dennie an admir- 
ing friend tried to publish a series of New and 
Original Lay Sermons?* collected from his writ- 
ings in The Portfolio. The avowed purpose was 
to get money for a monument. The price was to 
be five cents a copy, or two dollars a year. The 
first sermon chosen was one of his boldest in 
theme, from the text II Sam. 6:20 — the unique 
explanation of the treatment of Michal by 
David. Whether because of this unfortunate 
initial "sermon," or for some other reason, the 
scheme did not succeed. The monument was 
erected later by friends, but the failure of this 
series was symbolized in the bizarre illustration 
at the end of this first issue — a monument, a book, 

"The Portfolio, February, 181 2, pp. 186-187. 
86 New and Original Essays by Joseph Dennie (Philadel- 
phia, 181 8). Only one has been found in this series. 



228 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

and an ink-bottle jumbled together above the 
phrase, "The Relicks of Dennie." 

There are two collective editions of his Lay 
Sermons, which were clearly modeled after those 
of "Dr. Yorick." They do not include the larger 
portion of Dennie's essays of this type, but they 
contain representative examples. The first vol- 
ume, published at Walpole in 1796, was the 
expression of the earlier, more spontaneous 
essays. The second collection, edited by his 
friend in Philadelphia, John E. Hall, five years 
after Dennie's death, revealed more care in selec- 
tion and form. This same friend included others 
of Dennie's writings, with a sketch of his life, in 
The Philadelphia Souvenir for 1826. 37 

In reading Dennie's Sermons the question 
sometimes arises : Was the author serious or 
cynical? — for wit and earnestness are mingled 
throughout. He was sincere in purpose; never 
cynical with intent to injure. Sometimes he 
chose an unusual theme, like that used in the first 
essay of the early collection. Taking for his sub- 
ject, "Two is Better than One," he makes a plea 
for second marriages, under fitting conditions, and 
illustrates his text by examples from history and 
literature. Another good "Sermon," among the 
earlier ones, was inspired by political dangers 
and gave warning, from the text : "In those days 

37 The Philadelphia Souvenir, 1826, pp. 70-93, 96-136. 



T H » 

LAY PREACHER; 

O R 
SHORT S •' E R M jf S, 

FOR 

IDLE READERS. 



r; THEREFORE, SEEING V/ E HAVE THIS MINISTRY— 
WE FAINT not." St. PAUL. 








Publijhed according 


to Act of Congres 


3. 


*$€/ cfcn&fe. 


€ A)e<ri>TbUs, 


^^ 



PRINTED at WA LPOL E^ Ne wham^shi r a , 

By DAVID. CARLISLE, Jutf, 

And Sold at his Bookstore. 



i 79 6. 



Title-page of first edition of The Lay Preacher, 1796; from 
copy in American Antiquarian Society Library. 



JOSEPH DENNIE 229 

there was no king in Israel ; every man did what 
was right in his own eyes." The last essay in this 
first collection is worthy of special mention. Here 
he chose for a theme the prison experiences of 
Joseph. After some passages of exposition, he 
applied his text to modern life : 

Yet did not the Chief Butler remember Joseph but 

Forgat him Many are the promises of the chief 

butlers, the CHESTERFIELDS, the smooth-tongued men 
of the world. They keep them too, But so close, that when 
the day of performance arrives, not even their owner 
can find them, — mislaid in some obscure corner of mem- 
ory's chest! 

There is surely not more ground for the charge 
of irreverence against Dennie than there is for 
the same accusation regarding the essays by Swift 
and Sterne. To some minds there is an objec- 
tion to paraphrasing the Bible words in text and 
illustration. Beyond this general criticism, there 
is no offense against religious sentiment, nor are 
the texts treated with levity. Dennie had a true, 
lifelong reverence for the Bible; it gave him much 
comfort in his last hours, as it had in the earlier 
years when, he declared, it brought him "medicine 
for the mind." In the later collection of his Ser- 
mons, the second one, "On the Pleasures of 
Study," with text from Rev. 1:1, is a direct plea 
for Bible-reading. His exposition of the biblical 
stories was reverent and often illumining, as 



230 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Paul's voyage to Rome, Samuel and Samsoi 
Ruth and Naomi. Sometimes he used episod< 
like the sufferings of Job, Jonah's lament for his 
gourd, or Paul's reproof to Athens, as texts fori 
moralizing upon adversity, fretfulness, and scan- 
dal. In reciting the story of Samuel's mother, 
fashioning yearly the little coat which she carried 
to the boy, he achieved pictorial effects. Sane 
precepts on the best ways to keep the sabbath are: 
found in the twentieth "sermon" in the later col- 
lection, with text from Amos 8:5. Remonstrat- 
ing against the formal "yawning" endurance of 
the sabbath, he urged joyful reverence, whether im 
service indoors or long walks in the country as a j 
means of healthy worship. 

In quantity, the literature of permanent value j 
produced by Dennie is small. As an influence his 
work was of more importance. His essays were 
novel and stimulating ; uneven in interest, yet sel- 
dom wearisome. They lack the epigrammatic 
value of Franklin's essays and those of the best 
English writers whom Dennie most admired. 
They are burdened with verbosity, and sometimes 
seem affected rather than sincere. On the whole, 
however, they were written with an earnest desire j 
to elevate the literary tastes of his countrymen, 
and to stimulate them to read more of the higher 
literature from which he took his allusions and 
quotations. His essays give us glimpses of the 



JOSEPH DENNIE 231 

intellectual and social tastes of his age. As 
journalist and essayist he was animated with a 
hope that he might inspire young men to read 
more intelligently and write more "elegantly." 
As one approaches his monument in St. Peter's 
churchyard in Philadelphia, he sees from a dis- 
tance the wreath which encircles the name, and 
testifies to the warm friendship with which Den- 
nie was regarded. The epitaph, a long one, was 
written by John Quincy Adams. 38 Many of the 
sculptured words seem too effusive for our judg- 
ment to accept, but no one can question the truth 
of one of the last lines : 
He devoted his Life to the Literature of his Country. 

38 Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, edited by Charles Fran- 
ks Adams (Philadelphia, 1877), Vol. IX, p. 239. 



, 






WILLIAM DUNLAP: THE BEGINNINGS 
OF DRAMA 



VII 

WILLIAM DUNLAP: THE BEGINNINGS 
OF DRAMA 

Among the research societies, which seek to 
find and preserve facts and reminiscences in 
American history and literature, the Dunlap 
Society has a specific purpose, as outlined in its 
first printed report : 

The Dunlap Society has been named in honor of 
William Dunlap, one of the first of American dramatists, 
one of the earliest of American managers, and the fore- 
most historian of the American Theatre. It has been 
founded by a Committee of Students of the American 
Stage, who are also collectors of American dramatic 
books and prints. 1 

The engraving from Dunlap's portrait of himself, 
owned by the National Academy of Design, is a 
fitting frontispiece to this report. Two of Dun- 
lap's plays, The Father and Andre, have been 
edited and republished by this memorial society. 

In order that Dunlap may have his true place 
among the pioneer dramatists of America, we 
must review briefly the labored, and almost for- 
gotten, ventures in early drama. 2 Probably the 

1 Biennial Reports of the Dunlap Society, 1888, p. 11. 

2 Exhaustive outlines of early American drama have been 
made by Oscar Wegelin in Early American Plays (New York, 

235 



236 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 






first attempt at drama written on American soil 
was Cornelia, by Governor William Berkeley, of 
Virginia, which was acted in London in 1662, but 
probably was not printed. Another Colon- 
ial governor, Robert Hunter, of New York, wrote 
a political satire in three acts, in 17 14, entitled 
Androborus; or, The Man-Hater. He was 
assisted by Lewis Morris. This early play was 
owned for many years by David Garrick, and 
later was in the library of the Duke of Devon- 
shire. A play, The Suspected Daughter, by 
"T. T.," was printed in Boston in 1 751, but it 
has not been traced. The friend of Franklin, 
Thomas Godfrey, used the popular myth of buried 
piratical treasure as theme for a broad farce, The 
Prince of Parthia, in 1759. In London, a few 
years later, a popular play was Ponteach, which 
related the unique adventures of its author, Major 
Robert Rogers, an Indian ranger. 

The early incidents of the Revolution were 
recited in bombastic attempts at drama. General 
John Burgoyne had a little literary talent and 
more vanity. To please the ladies and British 
officers, during the military investment of Boston, 
he wrote a farce, The Blockheads, for which 
Major Andre composed a comic prologue. When 

1905 ; second edition, with bibliography of Dunlap), and 
Paul Leicester Ford in New- England Magazine, February, 
1894. ("Beginnings of American Dramatic Literature.") 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 237 

the fortunes of war were reversed, and the 
British were in derision as foolish adventurers, 
an answering satire in dialogue form, The Block- 
heads, appeared. Paul Leicester Ford has 
assigned this to Mercy Warren. The prologue 
suggests her style of invective : 

By Yankees frighted too ! Oh, dire to say ! 
Why Yankees sure at red coats faint away ! 
Oh, yes — they thought so too — for lackaday, 
Their general turn'd the blockade to a play; 
Poor vain poltroons — with justice we'll retort, 
And call them blockheads for their idle sport. 

Among other plays which recall the earlier 
years of the war were The Battle of Brooklyn, 
an unassigned farce ; The Fall of British Tyranny,.. 
by John Leacock; The Battle of Bunker's Hill, s 
by Hugh Henry Brackenridge, and The Motley 
Assembly, a satire on prominent Loyalist fam- 
ilies. Possibly this last was by Mrs. Mercy 
Warren, who wrote two of the popular dramas 
of the same period, The Adulateur and The 
Group. 4 " When the stress of feeling had some- 
what lessened, there were lighter farces, operas, 
and drawing-room dialogues, which portrayed or 
satirized national traits. Among such was the 

3 The Battle of Bunker's Hill: A Dramatic Piece of Five 
Acts in Heroic Measure. By a Gentleman of Maryland 
(Philadelphia: Bell, 1776). 

4 The Adulateur (Boston, 1773) ; The Group (Boston, 1775; 
8vo). 



238 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

anonymous opera, The Blockheads; or, the Fortu- 
nate Contractor, acted in 1782-83 in London and 
New York. 5 Some crude pla^ys were written by 
the Yale tutor Barnabas Bidwell, which were 
acted in the colleges. One of these, The Merce- 
nary Match, in 1785, was very popular because 
it had a strong American note, in remonstrance 
against the marriage of an American girl to a, 
wealthy foreigner. 

With the exception of the patriotic satires, all 
plays that were written and acted during the war 
were disapproved by the anxious, impoverished 
patriots as a waste of money and time. The 
§ American Company of actors, who had enjoyed 
a season of favor in New York and elsewhere 
before the war, was forced to the South and to 
Jamaica, until 1785, when they reappeared in New 
York. At first, on their return, they gave 
"Courses of Lectures," and gradually came into 
the field of drama again. The favorite member 
of this company, Hallam, had been joined by his 
cousin, Wignell. The latter made a great success 
of the character of Jonathan, a typical Yankee, in 
Royall Tyler's The Contrast, the first distinctively 
American drama in background, motive, and 

5 The Blockheads; or, Fortunate Contractor: An Opera 
in Two Acts, as it Was Performed at New York. Printed at 
New York, London. (1782). 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 239 

authorship; this was probably given for the first 
time in New York, April 16, 1787. 6 

Royall Tyler had written an earlier dramatic 
sketch, May Day; or, New York in an Uproar, 
which had been acted by Wignell. After the suc- 
cess of The Contrast, he tried again to gain ap- 
plause by a comedy, The Georgia Spec; or, Land 
in the Moon; but this, like his lyric efforts and 
his Comic Grain mar, has been forgotten. The 
student of American literature still finds mild in- 
terest in Tyler's fiction, The Algcrine Captive and 
The Yankcy in London. He is, however, gen- 
erally known as the writer of the first American 
play that won success and maintained the interest 
of a later generation. 7 In the reprint by the Dun- 
lap Society, the editor, Thomas J. McKee, said of 
its general influence : 

The success of "The Contrast" was one of the 
powerful influences which aided in bringing about in this 
country a complete revolution of sentiment with respect to 
the drama and theatrical amusements. 8 

The statement of Tyler in the advertisement of 

8 This date, generally adopted, has been disputed by Rev. 
Thomas P. Tyler, who says the initial performance was at 
Park Theater, April 16, 1789. See Gilman, Bibliography of 
Vermont (Montpelier, 1897), pp. 282. 

7 A few of his Songs in manuscript are in the Boston 
Public Library. 

8 The Contrast, reprint by the Dunlap Society (New 
York, 1887), Introduction, p. viii. 



240 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

his play may be readily believed. He assured the 
public that he "never critically studied the rules 
of the drama, and indeed had seen but few exhi- 
bitions of the stage." In conclusion, he confessed 
that the play "was undertaken and finished in the 
course of three weeks." In spite of the obvious 
results of such haste and lack of training, there 
is a tone of vibrant Americanism which won 
passing favor for the drama, not alone with the 
public, but also with Washington, whose name 
appears first upon the list of subscribers to the 
printed version. 9 The keynote of patriotism is 
sounded in the first lines of the prologue : 
EXULT, each patriot heart! this night is shewn 
A piece, which we may fairly call our own; 
Where the proud titles of "My Lord !" "Your Grace !" 
To humble Mr. and plain Sir give place. 
Our Author pictures not from foreign climes, 
The fashions or the follies of the times;" 
But has confin'd the subject of his work 
To the gay scenes — the circles of New York. 

The droll frontispiece was drawn by Dunlap, 
who recorded his interest in this play and its in- 
fluence upon him, but who also censured it freely : 

It is extremely deficient in plot, dialogue, or incident, 
but has some marking in the characters, and in that of 
Jonathan, played by Wignell, a degree of humour and a 

9 The title-page of the first edition reads : The Contrast, 
A Comedy ; in five acts. Written by a citizen of the United 
States; Performed with applause at the Theatres in New-York, 
Philadelphia and Maryland (1790). 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 241 

knowledge of what is termed Yankee dialect which, in the 
hands of a favourite performer, was relished by an audi- 
ence gratified by the appearance of home manufacture — a 
feeling which was soon exchanged for a most discouraging 
predilection for foreign articles, and contempt for every 
home-made literary effort. 10 

The climax of broad humor is in the first 
scene of the third act of The Contrast. Here are 
allusions to the prejudices, then current, against 
theaters and actors. Jonathan is describing his 
experiences in the city. Someone hints that he 
must have seen "the players," and he exclaims : 

Mercy on my soul! Did I see the wicked players? 
Mayhap that 'ere Darby, that I liked so, was the old ser- 
pent himself and had his cloven feet in his pocket. Why, 
I vow, now I come to think on't, the candles seemed to 
burn blue, and I'm sure where I sat it smelt tarnally of 
brimstone. 

The three women — Charlotte, Letitia, and Maria 
— were good types of their own times in manners, 
but they belong to the universally feminine in sen- 
timents and thoughts. The true motif of the play 
was summarized in the final speech of Colonel 
Manly, the priggish hero : 

And I have learned that probity, virtue, honour, though 
they should not have received the polish of Europe, will 
secure to an honest American the good graces of his 
countrywomen, and, I hope, the applause of THE 
PUBLIC. 

10 History of the American Theatre (New York, 1832), 
pp. 71, 72. 



242 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 



d 



This comedy by Tyler has received detaile< 
attention here, both because of its important place 
in the development of native drama, and also on 
account of its influence upon William Dunlap. 
His own assertion was : 

I heard of the success of "The Contrast" and although 
it was already put on the shelf of the prompter, or buried 
in his travelling chest, the praises bestowed upon it lit 
up the inflammable material brought from abroad, and a 
comedy in five acts was written in a few weeks. 11 

The incidents of Dunlap's youth, as well as 
his tastes, inclined him toward the two professions 
with which he was allied — art and the drama. 
Born at Perth Amboy, February 19, 1776, his 
earliest memories clustered about scenes of the 
Revolution. His father, Samuel Dunlap, a native 
of Ireland, was in Wolfe's army and was seri- 
ously wounded on the Plains of Abraham. When 
he recovered, he left the army, married Mar- 
garet Sargent, and became a storekeeper at Perth 
Amboy, where his only son was born. Accord- 
ing to family stories, William Dunlap was an 
example of an only child of the "spoiled" kind, 
tyrannizing over family and slaves alike. Be- 
yond the instruction of his "good mother," as 
he always called her, he had another teacher in 

II History of the American Theatre (New York, 1832), p. 
77. Dunlap had just returned from four years in England 
at the time this play was presented. 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 243 

his birth-town, to whom he owed early fondness 
for books and pictures. This aged friend and 
his home were described minutely by Dunlap : 

On the corner of Market and High streets stood the 
house of Thomas Bartow. He was a small, thin, old man, 
with straight gray hair hanging in comely guise on each 
side of his pale face. 12 

In this friend's garden, beside the hickory fire in 
the library, or speeding over the frozen ground 
behind the old sorrel horse, Dunlap received many 
happy and lasting lessons on life and books. In 
memory he recalled this inspiring guide : 

Patiently he turned over the pages of Homer and 
Virgil in the translations of Pope and Dryden, and of Mil- 
ton's poems, and explained the pictures, until I was familiar 
with the stories of Troy and Latium, — of heaven and hell, 
as poets tell them. Nor was history strange to me, 
especially that of Rome. Thus was commenced a love of 
reading which has been my blessing. 13 

As a boy, Dunlap belonged to a company of 
"Governor's guards," during the later years of 
the Revolution. He remembered vividly the 
arrival of British troops at Perth Amboy, and his 
desire to follow them far out of town. This 

12 William Dunlap, History of the Rise and Progress of the 
Arts of Design in the United States (New York, 1834), Vol. 
I, p. 245, 246. 

13 Wiiliam A. Whitehead, Contributions to the Early History 
of Perth Amboy (New York, 1856), pp. 139-41, gives further 
facts about this man, and also "the Dame School" which 
Dunlap attended, kept by Mrs. Randal. 



244 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

incident had more than a passing result for 
Dunlap, for his family moved to Piscatawa, 
that they might be sure of safety in an attack. 
Here, on the banks of the Raritan, the boy found 
a new teacher in Nature. He made fitful attempts 
to study at home, and he browsed much in his 
father's library. The lifelong regret of his life 
was the lack of any systematic education. But 
there were compensations at this time. As he 
recalled : 

My time was principally occupied in swimming and 
fishing in the creeks of the Raritan, rambling the fields 
and woods — sailing boats on a mill-pond — visiting the 
miller — and, in short, in the delights of liberty and idle- 
ness, — no, not idleness, for this was as busy a summer 
as I remember. 1 * 

When his family moved to New York, in 
1777, Dunlap's studies were renewed, but only 
for a brief time. While playing with some friends 
near the home of Andrew Elliot, in 1778, his right 
eye was cut by a wood-chip carelessly tossed by 
a playmate. At first he was threatened with total 
blindness, but gradually he recovered the use of j 
his left eye. His definite schooling was ended, 
and pictures became his only resource during 
weeks of recovery. He began to use India ink 
in copying prints. His success led to attempts 

14 History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design 
in the United States, Vol. I, p. 247. 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 245 

at engravings, and he drew sketches of his rela- 
tives "at three guineas a head." In later life he 
traced his failures in working with color to 
this early enthusiasm, saying: "My eye became 
satisfied with light and shadow, and the ex- 
citement of color was not necessary to my 
pleasure." 15 

Dunlap's father thought he could make an 
artist of his son, if he gave him enough instruc- 
tion. He sent him as a pupil to William 
Williams, in New York, who taught him the 
rudiments of portrait-painting; and the youth 
experimented upon his family and friends. He 
was especially anxious to paint the portrait of 
Washington, and was given the privilege at two 
different times. The second effort was a crude, 
full-length portrait, modeled after West's paint- 
ing of the same subject. The background was 
the battlefield at Princeton. Beside Washington 
was the recumbent figure of General Mercer. 

To fulfil his ambition for his son, his father 
sent him to London, in 1784, that he might have 
the benefit of instruction by Benjamin West. The 
four years abroad did not much advance Dun- 
lap's progress in his art, for he was idle and 
conceited, the victim of ill-health and too much 

15 Ibid., p. 250. One of the droll efforts in color by Dun- 
lap is at the New York Historical Society : "The Artist Show- 
ing a Picture from Hamlet to His Parents." 



246 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

freedom and dissipation in a large city. Evi- 
dently West did not consider him promising as 
an art-student, although "Rafe" West, the 
painter's son, was one of Dunlap's intimates 
during this period. When Dunlap showed one 
of his portraits to West, the latter's droll com- 
ment was: "You have made the two sides of 
the figure alike — each has the same sweeping 
swell — he looks like a rolling pin." 16 

On his return to America, Dunlap drifted 
aimlessly for a time; but, after his marriage to j 
Elizabeth Woolsey he renounced his convivial 
habits and tried to make his life more noble. In 
the marriage notice, in New York Daily Gazette, 
February 16, 1789, she is called the amiable and 
accomplished Miss Nabby Woolsey, of Fairfield, 
Conn. Dunlap was interested, for a time, in the 
New York Abolition Society, and freed his 
father's slaves. Afterward he tried business and 
visited various cities as a trader in general mer- 
chandise. Finally he heard of the success of 
Tyler's The Contrast, and became filled with the 
idea that he would be a playwright. His boy- 
hood pleasure in witnessing the plays given by 
the British soldiers, the more recent enjoyment 
of plays in London, and the promise of American 
response seemed to assure him that this was his 
opportunity. 

Op. cit., p. 262. 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 247 

His first attempt, Modest Soldier; or, Love 
in New York, was, he said, "read to critics as 
young and ignorant as the author, and praised to 
his heart's content. It has long slept in the tomb 
of the Capulets, and fortunately no traces remain 
of its merits or demerits." 17 It is to be regretted 
that the same fate did not attend many others 
of his more than sixty plays. 

The second effort was more successful in 
immediate and lasting results. The first per- 
formance was at the John Street Theater, 
September 7, 1789. It was entitled The Father; 
or, American Shandyism; in a later issue the title 
was The Father of an Only Child. 12, The 
comedy abounds in melodrama, crude and com- 
plicated situations, until the reader is prepared 
to echo the sentiment of the epilogue, which was 
spoken by Mrs. Henry, of the American Com- 
pany: 
Well, We've got thro' and in good truth I'm glad on't, 
A sorry, whining, canting time I've had on't, — 
My true love lost and found, and found and lost; 
Like shuttlecock my passions pitch'd and toss'd. 

There were references to the political situation, 

17 History of the American Theatre (New York, 1832), 
\ 77. 

18 This was reprinted from the original in 1887, by the 
Dunlap Society, with an introduction by Thomas J. McKee. 
The original play was first printed in the Massachusetts Maga- 
zine, October and November, 1789. 



248 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

especially to the proposed and rejected amend- 
ments to the Articles of Confederation, in the 
speeches by the leading characters, Mr. Racket 
and his petulant wife. 

The response to this first play fired Dunlap 
with determination to write more. In reminis- 
cence he confessed : 

Filled with youthful ardour and pleased with the ap- 
plause of the public and the encouragement of his asso- 
ciates, he tho't only of future triumphs, and tragedies 
and comedies, operas and farces, occupied his mind, his 
time and his pen. 19 

The second play which was acted was a trifle, 
Darby's Return, written as a benefit for the actor 
Wignell. The character of the poor, genial 
soldier was long recalled. With a party of guests, 
Washington attended this play at its first staging, 
in New York, and was embarrassed at first, and 
then amused, by the references to himself. 20 In 
homely phrase, Darby told of Washington's ser- 
vice: 

A man who fought to free the land from wo, 
Like me, had left his farm a-soldiering to go, 
But having gained his point, he had, like me, 

19 History of the American Theatre (New York, 1832), p. 
114. The long list of his plays as given by Wegelin in Earl 1 ), 
American Plays, including a number of manuscripts, testifie; 
to the truth of this word. 

20 Ibid., p. 85. The same story is in Martha J. Lamb, His 
tory of the City of New York, Vol. II, p. 352 ; also in Paul L 
Ford, Washington and the Theatre (New York, 1899). 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 249 

Return'd his own potato ground to see. 
But there he could not rest. With one accord 
He's called to be a kind of, — not a lord, — 
I don't know what, he's not a great man sure, 
For poor men love him just as he were poor. 

When Kathleen asked, "How look'd he, 
Darby? Was he short or tall?" Dunlap said 
Washington showed embarrassment from the 
expectation of 

one of those eulogies which he had been obliged to hear 
on many public occasions and which must doubtless have 
been a severe trial to his feelings ; but Darby's answer 
that he had not seen him, because he had mistaken "a 
man all lace and glitter, botherum and shine" for him, 
until the show had passed, relieved the hero from appre- 
hension of further personality, and he indulged in that 
which was with him extremely rare, a hearty laugh. 

Such an anticlimax was often found in Dunlap's 
plays. He chose this device to bring in humor 
and, in many cases, to speak a message of 
democracy. 

For the rival of Wignell, the actor Hodgkinson, 
Dunlap wrote the play that was printed later as 
Lord Leicester, but the title of which, as acted 
April 24, 1794, was The Fatal Deception; or, 
The Progress of Guilt. This play did not win 
much applause ; so the dramatist created a charac- 
ter akin to that of Darby, in the farce Shelty's 
Travels. This was left among his manuscript 
plays; but it had temporary fame, and cleared 



250 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

five hundred dollars for the actor's benefit. In 
the copy of Lord Leicester printed in New York, 
probably in 1807, the author wrote: "To the 
Reader" : 

The following poem, my first effort in tragic composi- 
tion, and the first American tragedy produced upon the 
stage, was written in the year 1790, and first played at 
New York, in 1794. Its success confirmed my attachment 
to the drama. 

To most readers, Matilda urging Henry to the murder 
of Leicester will appear as a copy of lady Macbeth; but 
she is, in reality, more in situation like the Clytemnestra 
of the Greek poets; yet essentially different (independent 
of difference in merit) from both. 

May, 1806. W. Dunlap. 

In this play the part of Leicester was taken 
by Hallam, and that of Cecil by Hodgkinson. 

Soon after Dunlap's plays had begun to attract 
favorable attention, he was persuaded by Hodg- 
kinson to enter a partnership with him as theatri- 
cal manager. This was a fatal error, as regarded 
the financial future of Dunlap. He hoped, how- 
ever, to improve the American stage and to 
educate the public to appreciate native dramas of 
purity. At sixty-five, with shattered health and 
fortunes, he still affirmed that he had 
the thoughts and wishes of one who, on trial, found cir- 
cumstances too strong for his desires of reform, and, who, 
after a struggle (with ruined health and fortunes,) gave uj 
the contest without giving up the wish or hope. 21 

21 History of the American Theatre, p. 143. 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 251 

Hodgkinson persuaded Dunlap to purchase a 
share in the John Street Theater, and later to 
join him in a lease of the Park Theater, with a 
cost for fittings of one hundred and thirty 
thousand dollars. He also emphasized to Dunlap 
the opportunity thus afforded for presenting the 
latter's plays. The month after Dunlap had as- 
sumed management, he brought out his opera The 
Archers, the tale of William Tell. This was an 
adaptation; Hodgkinson as William Tell and his 
wife as Cecily won many plaudits. 22 The "Basket 
Song" was retained in books of parlor music 
for many years after the play had been for- 
gotten : 

Come, who'll buy my baskets? 

I've small and I've great, 
They are fit for all uses, 

And suiting each state. 
Chorus : Come, who'll buy my baskets ? 

Buck-baskets, bread-baskets, 

Of broom and of chip; 
Work baskets for ladies 

iWho ne'er have the hip. 
Chorus : Come, who'll buy my baskets ? 

Here's love-letter baskets 
Of willow so trim 

22 This was adapted from "a piece, Helvetic Liberty, left 
with him." His title reads : The Archers or Mountaineers of 
Switzerland. An Opera in 3 acts, as performed by the Old 
American Company (New York, 1796). 



252 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

For the swain who sore sighs 
At his mistress's whim. 
Chorus : Come, who'll buy my baskets ? 

Discords soon followed triumphs at the theater. 
Quarrels arose between Hodgkinson and Hallam, 
and Dunlap was compelled to borrow and advance 
money to meet the expenses of his partner while 
on trips in Boston and Hartford. With quiet 
sarcasm he wrote of his share in these extrava- 
gances of Hodgkinson : "His partner sent on 
money and advice. The one was taken, the 
other rejected." 23 

Valuable aid in studying the life of Dunlap 
during this part of his career, both as manager 
and as playwright, is found in some volumes of 
manuscript journals recently acquired by the New 
York Historical Society. Portions are here 
printed by permission. The four volumes at this 
library are numbered 14, 15, 24, and 30, in an 
evidently broken series. They thus cover not 
alone the two years of his activity as playwright, 
1797-98, but the later volumes reveal his last 
years of struggle as painter and author. The 
books are bound in leather, and the handwriting 
is generally clear and strong. 

The first entry, July 2j, 1797, is a typical 
record of a day in Dunlap's life, bringing its own 
testimony to his energy and varied interests : 

^History of the American Theatre, p. 201. 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 253 

I arose at half-past 4 O'clock and worked in the 
garden untill breakfast. Went with the Children to Mr. 
Parker's where I left Margaret. Read Hume with John 
Read 24 in the 15th vol. of Enc; which I borrowed on the 
25th from Mr. Parker's family; on which evening I read 
several arts, in it to my Wife; particularly potatoes. Read 
this morning to my Wife Art. Platonism; finding the 
opinion of Plato in respect to a first cause of the Uni- 
verse and co-existing Matter very similar to ideas of my 
own expressed in Ufrasia, I took up ye vol. of my 
Memoirs & read to my Wife one of the dialogues between 
Joseph and Abbas. Read Hume with ye boy. Read in 
Enc. arts. Platonism, Plotinus, Plover, etc. Walk out 
to my Farm, — the buckwheat is well up. 

Following such entries of domestic and per- 
sonal interest are passages relating to his dramas. 
He records the opinion of Thomas Holcroft, to 
whom he had sent some of his plays with a view 
to publication. The decision was unfavorable; 
the publisher had read "William Tell first and did 
not care to read the others." Dunlap accepted 
the verdict with good grace, saying : "His opinion 
in respect to the publication is just and the 
knowledge of that opinion is salutary to me." 

Letters from Hodgkinson, dated from Hart- 
ford and Boston, brought Dunlap tidings of "ex- 
penditures far in excess of receipts." The 
scattered sentences which follow indicate the 
stress and anxiety which such mismanagement 
caused Dunlap: "August 15, Rec'd letters from 

24 This reference is to his son, who died in early manhood. 



254 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Hodgkinson filled with ill-fortune — wrote to him 
— 'I can send no more; we may as well stop at 
once. How I shall pay what I owe here I know 
not.' " A few days later, after a night of anxiety, 
he wrote in the journal: "The greater part of 
this day has been passed in fruitless attempts to 
borrow money." 

Near the close of the first manuscript volume, 
November 25, 1797, there is a significant entry: 
"Write on Andre." The early pages of the 
second volume of the journal (Volume 15) 
mention this play in progress of writing; then, 
later, in presentation. As this was the drama 
which has given Dunlap his true recognition in 
later years, it is fitting to speak of it in detail. 
Reading the story from entries in the journal, 
we find that in December, 1797, Dunlap' returned 
from Boston, where he had been compelled to give 
security for Hodgkinson's debts. On his way back 
to New York he had stopped at New Haven, at 
his "excellent brother Dwight's," to whom he had 
read parts of his new play. 25 According to the 
journal, Andre was finished January 21, 1798, 
but it was March 2y before final rehearsals began. 
Cooper, Hallam, and Hodgkinson became in- 
volved in a three-cornered quarrel over the parts, 

25 Mrs. Dunlap was the sister of the wife of President 
Timothy Dwight. 



■;.\ f 



YUTHENTIC DOCUMEN1 3 



ANDRE 




NEW-YORK ; 
T. 4 s J- SWORDS, No. 99 Pearl-ftree 

';,'. -—1798.— 



Title-page of William Dunlap's play, Andre, 1798. 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 255 

and the presentation was much delayed. But on 
March 30 there was this significant diary note : 

Evening, Andre & poor Soldier in ye house — $817. 
The play was much applauded, notwithstanding the ex- 
treme imperfectness of Cooper & of some others but on 
Blands throwing down his Cocade there was (sic) a 
few hisses. 

This incident of the cockade nearly made the 
play a fiasco. It was dangerous to choose the 
character of Andre and his fate as a subject for 
drama within eighteen years of the dates of the 
events, and while partisan spirit was still smolder- 
ing. Cooper, in the character of Bland, a young 
American officer who had been kindly treated by 
Andre and became his friend while imprisoned 
within the British lines, finding that his pleas 
would not save the life of Andre, tore the Ameri- 
can cockade from his casque and threw it down. 
This episode in the play was easily misinterpreted 
at the time it was first given. Afterward Dunlap 
said: 

This was not, perhaps could not be, understood by a 
mixed assembly; they thought the country and its defend- 
ers insulted, and a hiss ensued — it was soon quieted and the 
play ended with applause. 28 

The contemporary version of the affair, in his 
journal, indicates that the feeling was not con- 
fined to the first night, but lived for a day or 

28 History of the American Theatre, p. 222. 



256 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

two. April 2, 1798, before the second or third 
presentation, he wrote : "I am told that the people 
are so offended at the Cocade business as to 
threaten to hiss off the play tonight." A severe 
storm prevented the play from being given that 
night, and before its next performance Dunlap 
says that he "made an alteration in the 5th act, 
by making Bland, on his repentance, receive the 
cockade again." The play was repeated April 6, 
"for the Author's benefit and cleared $329." 

In spite of many technical defects and "wooden 
speeches," Dunlap achieved considerable success 
with the character of Andre. In the reprint of 
this play, J. Brander Matthews has said, criticiz- 
ing its merits : "Of all the plays on the subject of 
Arnold's treason and Andre's sad fate, the 
Andre of Mr. Dunlap is easily the best, both as 
literature and as a successful acting drama." 27 
The best portion of the play is in Act II, the 
interview between Andre and Bland : 

Andre. Oft in the generous heat of glowing youth, 
Oft have I said how fully I despised 
All bribery base, all treacherous tricks in war : 
Rather my blood should bathe these hostile 

shores, 
And have it said, "He died a gallant soldier," 

27 The Original edition was entitled : Andre : A Tragedy 
in 5 acts. By William Dunlap (New York, 1798; London, 
1799) ; reprint by the Dunlap Society (New York, 1887). 
Introduction by J. Brander Matthews, p. xxiv. 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 



257 



Than with my country's gold encourage 

treason, 
And thereby purchase gratitude and fame. 

Bland. Still mays't thou say it, for thy heart's the 
same 

Andre. Still is my heart the same. But there has past 
A day, an hour, which ne'er can be recall'd, 
Unhappy man! Tho' all thy life pass pure, 
Mark'd by benevolence thy every deed; 
The out-spread map, which shows the way 

thou'st trod, 
Without one devious track or doubtful line, 
It all avails thee naught, if in one hour, 
One hapless hour, thy feet are led astray; — 
Thy happy deeds all blotted from remem- 
brance ; 
Cancell'd the record of thy former good, 
Is it not hard, my friend? Is't not unjust? 

Bland. Not every record cancel'd. O, there are hearts 
Where Virtue's image, when 'tis once engrav'd, 
Can never know erasure. 

The later lines of this act, in which Andre 
recites the incidents of his treason and capture, 
have a sustained interest, although many lines 
lack spontaneity and force : 

Bland. It was thy duty so to serve thy country. 
Andre. Nay, nay; be cautious ever to admit 
That duty can beget dissimulation. 
On ground, unoccupied by either part, 
Neutral esteem'd, I landed, and was met. 
But ere my conference was with Arnold clos'd, 
The day began to dawn; I then was told 
That till the night I must my safety seek 



258 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

In close concealment Within your posts con- 

vey'd 
I found myself involved in unthought dangers, 
Night came. I sought the vessel which had 

borne 
Me to the fatal spot; but she was gone. 
Retreat that way cut off, again I sought 
Concealment with the traitors of your army. 
Arnold now granted passes, and I doff'd 
My martial garb, and put on curs'd disguise. 
Thus in a peasant's form I pass'd your posts; 
And when, as I conceiv'd my danger o'er, 
Was stopt and seiz'd by some returning 

scouts. 
So did ambition lead me, step by step, 
To treat with traitors, and encourage treason; 
And then, bewilder'd in the guilty scene, 
To quit my martial designating badges, 
Deny my name and sink into the spy. 

The interest awakened by this tragedy induced 
Dunlap to introduce some of the same characters 
— Washington, Arnold, Paulding, and Andre — 
in a melodrama, The Glory of Columbia, which 
was first given at the Park Theater, July 4, 
1803. 28 Some of the songs, which formed a 
prominent feature of this play, were crude, but 
spirited, such as the chorus, "Glory of Columbia," 
sung to the tune of "Washington's March" : 

28 The Glory of Columbia ; her Yeomanry : A Play in 5 
acts. The Songs, Duets and Choruses, intended for the cele- 
bration of the Fourth of July at the New-York Theatre (New 
York, 1803). 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 259 

See, the standards float, 

So proudly gay ! 
Hark! the trumpet's note, 
With clanging bray. 
While every breast with conscious might, 
Swells ardent for the coming fight! 

The fight is done, 
The battle won! 
Our praise is due to him alone, 
Who from his bright eternal throne, 
The fate of battles and of man decides ! 
To him all praise be given! 
And under heaven, 
To great Columbia's son, 
Blest WASHINGTON! 
Who o'er the fight like fate presides. 

As one looks over the list of Dunlap's plays, 
with dates of writing, performance, and publica- 
tion, 29 he will note his years of plenty and of 
famine as a playwright. The climax of his popu- 
larity was at the close of the eighteenth century. 
The year 1800 has a record of eight plays that 
were either performed or printed, in addition to 
some that failed to win sufficient favor to be pro- 
duced. Following this period of fecundity there 
was an interval of discouragement. A brief 
revival of success came in 1803, when he pro- 
duced The Voice of Nature, which was an adapta- 

28 Such lists are to be found in the reprint of The Father 
by the Dunlap Society, and also in Oscar Wegelin, Early 
American Plays [26. ed., 1905)- 



260 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

tion from a French play, Le Jugement de 
Salomon; Ribbemont; or, The Feudal Baron; 
The Blind Boy, later given in London, 30 and 
The Glory of Columbia. Another period of 
desuetude, as regarded publication, followed 
for four or five years. Then came an awaken- 
ing of interest in his plays, as is indicated 
by the performance and printing, within a few 
years, of the historical dramas Rinaldo Rinaldini, 
The Battle of New Orleans, and The Soldier of 
Seventy-Six, such translations as Blue Beard, 
Lover's Vows, and The Africans, and the opera 
Yankee Chronology, with its "Huzza Song" 
which long survived its time of composition, in 
the War of 1812. It had a rollicking refrain: 

Then huzza! for the Sons of Columbia so free! 
They are lords of the soil — they'll be lords of the sea ! 

At intervals in his later life Dunlap wrote plays 
for special occasions, or at the requests of theater 
managers. One of the last of this type was A 
Trip to Niagara — a farce which was, according 
to his own explanation in the preface, "intended 
as a kind of running accompaniment to the more 
important product of the Scene painter." It 
illustrated a diorama of New York harbor, the 
Catskills, and Niagara. 31 It is noteworthy that 

30 For full title and date of these plays, see the Bibliography. 

31 A Trip to Niagara. Written for the Bowery Theatre, 

N. Y., by William Dunlap, Historical and Portrait Painter, 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 261 

in this mongrel play one of the characters was 
Leatherstocking. There existed a strong friend- 
ship between Cooper and Dunlap, in the latters 
last years. To the novelist, Dnnlap dedicated his 
American edition of the History of the American 
Theatre. 

After such a general survey of Dunlap's work 
as playwright, the queries arise : What were his 
merits as a dramatist, and why does he deserve 
recognition, in the face of such defects and with 
such meager literary skill? His defects were 
obvious ; to him they seemed insurmountable. In 
an address which prefaced Rinaldo Rinaldini 32 
he thanked the public for past favors, and de- 
clared : 

I am sensible of disadvantages which I consequently- 
labour under, from a confined education, nor do I expect 
my style will be thought equal in elegance or energy to the 
productions of those who, fortunately, from their situa- 
tion in life, have been instructed in the classics and 
have reaped both pleasure and improvement, by studying 
the ancients in their original purity. — I wish to be under- 
stood that my pretensions to originality are small. 

Dunlap well summarized here his chief faults 
— lack of a strong style and of much originality. 
Largely because of his rapid writing, but also 

Author of Memoirs of G. F. Cooke, C. B. Brown, Father of 
an Only Child, etc. (New York, 1830). 

32 Rinaldo Rinaldini or the Great Banditti. By an American 
and a Citizen of New York (New York, 1810), p. iii. 



262 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

from deficient training, his style was often loose 
and weak. There are a few passages of dramatic 
energy, and occasional characters with marked 
portraiture, as we have cited; but the mass of 
his plays lapse into mediocrity. His claim to 
remembrance cannot rest upon any individual 
play, with the possible exception of Andre; but 
he deserves some praise for skill in meeting the 
demands of his age, and for persistent efforts to 
cultivate a taste for pure, American drama. 

A critic has used the phrase "well made" to 
describe Dunlap's plays. 33 In general construc- 
tion and adaptation to the fashions of his day, his 
plays were cleverly devised. They were always 
wholesome morally, whether of his own concep- 
tion or translated from Kotzebue, IfTland, and 
other playwrights. He was sometimes extrava- 
gant in sensibility to suit the tastes of the time, 
but his tone was not prurient. He exerted a dual 
influence as dramatist and theater-manager. He 
lost money in the latter experience, and was re- 
duced to penury; but he never lost his patience 
nor his confidence in the public. For fifteen years 
he struggled, endured bickerings among actors, 
debts, sickness; but he still maintained a firm 
faith in God and man, and a belief that there was 

33 John Malone in Introduction (p. vi) to Oscar Wegelin, 
Early American Plays (published by the Dunlap Society, New 
York, 1900 and 1905). 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 263 

a future of appreciation for both playwrights and 
actors of high ideals. 

It may seem almost incredible that sufficient 
material existed for a bulky History of the 
American Theatre in 1832, when Dunlap pub- 
lished his volume. The style and plan of the 
history were alike leisurely, with many side- 
excursions into letters, politics, and society. After 
two or more pages of rambling reminiscence, the 
author would halt and admonish his readers : 
''But let us return to New York and the Drama." 
In addition to the autobiographical chapters, much 
valuable information was preserved by Dunlap 
regarding plays, their writers and actors, without 
which later studies of the stage would have been 
inadequate. Comparing himself to Colley Cibber 
in this work, he quotes from his English model : 

If I have any particular qualification for the task more 
than another, it is that I am perhaps the only person 
living (however unworthy) from whom the same 
materials could be collected. 34 

After we have read, with kindly interest, the 
portraits of famous actors and authors of that 
day, and the mingled success and pathos in Dun- 
lap's own life, it is disturbing to meet such a 
sentence of wholesale disparagement as this by 
Seilhamer: "Dunlap's statements of facts are 



34 William Dunlap, History of the American Theatre. Pref- 
ace, p. viii (New York, 1832; London, 1833). 



264 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

almost always misstatements, either in whole or 
in part." 35 Nor is this later critic quite justified 
in such a sweeping condemnation. Some of Dun- 
lap's dates, and many of his deductions, have 
been corrected by later research ; but, as a whole, 
his History of the American Theatre is not alone 
entertaining, but reliable, as a portrayal of I 
characters and a graphic revelation of the dra- 
matic impulse in America which survived the 
fierce opposition and many discouragements of j; 
the first half-century of national life. 

With greater justice toward Dunlap's under- 
lying motives and appreciation of his charrri, 
Samuel Isham, in his recent History of American 
Painting has written words which may apply 
both to the History of the American Theatre and 
also to the History of the Rise and Progress of 
the Arts of Design: 

He had a feeling for accuracy rare at the time. Like 
Herodotus he relates many fables but relates them as they 

were told him and gives his authority He had a 

good eye for character and he had fixed moral standards., 
It is only in his pages that we seem to touch the reality 
of West and Stuart and Trumbull, and Allston and Sully. 
Men were as sensitive then as today, and the men of, 
whom he wrote and their friends were displeased at his I 
frankness; but viewed at the present distance of time, he 

38 George O. Seilhamer, History of the American Theatre \ 
during the Revolution and after, (Philadelphia, 1889), Vol. I 
II, p. 274. 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 265 

seems rather kindly. He had his dislikes but he was 
harder on no one than on himself. One of his charms is 
his old-fashioned style as remote from that of the present 
day as Bacon's, a little ponderous but clear and animated. 
Being of his time he had to moralize some, but he does it 
briefly, and compensates for it by introducing innumer- 
able anecdotes, including some remarkably good ones. All 
of his successors have poached on his preserves, but none 
has paraphrased them without loss of point or character." 

In Dunlap's History of the American Theatre 
are delightful sidelights upon famous men and 
women of the past, especially among the actors 
and playwrights. There is a typical example of 
his anecdotal quality in this paragraph about the 
actor Henry : 

Henry was the only actor in America who kept a 
carriage. It was in the form of a coach, but very small, 
just sufficient to carry himself and wife to the theatre, 
and it was drawn by one horse and driven by a black 
boy. Aware of the jealousy towards players, and 
that it would be said he kept a coach, he had caused 
to be painted on the doors, in the manner of those coats 
of arms which the aristocracy of Europe display, two 
crutches in heraldic fashion, with the motto, "This or 
these."™ 

The work by Dunlap, as chronicler of both 
theater and art in America, was done in his last 
years after he had met virtual 'defeat in both these 

38 Samuel Isham, History of American Painting (New 
York, 1905), pp. 72, 73. 

'"' History of the American Theatre, p. 79. 



266 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

branches of pioneer effort. In his History of the 
Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the 
United States, published two years after his 
history of the theater, he traced the lives of 
many early artists, painters, miniaturists, engrav- 
ers, and teachers of art. He recounted with 
frankness his own failures. In a tone of sadness 
he wrote : 

In my history of the American Theatre I believe I 
proved to my reader's satisfaction that I was not qualified 
to be a director of a play-house and I now intend to show 
the causes that, at the age of twenty-three, and after a long 
residence in London, left me ignorant of anatomy, per- 
spective, drawing and coloring, and returned me home a 
most incapable painter. 

He abandoned painting for many years, while 
he was writing and presenting plays. After his 
first severe downfall of favor and loss of income 
as manager, in 1805, he turned to miniature- 
painting as a resource. Visiting various cities, he 
secured orders for miniatures from some people 
of note, like Josiah Quincy, David Humphreys, 
Mrs. Darley, James Fennell, and others. Through 
the assistance of Malbone, the artist, he was in- 
structed in the application of colors and the 
preparation of ivory. To extend his efforts in 
art, he went to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and 
Norfolk, securing commissions for portraits and 
miniatures, and painting some landscapes. His 






WILLIAM DUNLAP 267 

family was living at this time in his mother's 
home in Perth Amboy. 

For a few years, from about 1807 to 1812, he 
assumed charge of a theater in New York for his 
friend the actor T. Apthorp Cooper. As he was 
engaged on a salary, this experience proved to be 
more profitable than the earlier management. He 
moved his family to New York, where they 
lived on Beekman Street, and he became closely 
associated with men of affairs and letters in the 
two clubs of the day, the Drone and the Friendly. 
During this time he prepared and wrote portions 
of his memoirs of the actor George Fred Cooke 
and the novelist Charles Brockden Brown. 38 
Another position, with a definite salary affixed, 
was obtained for him through friends, in 1814, 
when he was appointed assistant paymaster of 
the militia of New York. He held this place 
for three years. Apparently he had difficulty in 
keeping his accounts accurate, for he was charged 
with defalcation to the extent of a thousand dol- 
lars. A careful examination of his books, etc., 
revealed the gratifying fact that the mistake was 

38 Memoirs of George Fred Cooke, Esq., Late of the Theatre 
Royal, Covent Garden; by William Dunlap (London, 181 3 ; 2 
vols.). The Life of Charles Brockden Brown, together with 
Selections from the Rarest of his Printed Works, from his 
Original Letters, and from his Manuscripts Before Unpub- 
lished. By William Dunlap (Philadelphia, 1815 ; 2 vols.). 



268 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

accidental and the actual deficit was only one 
dollar. 

The last twenty years of his life were largely 
given to painting and exhibiting pictures. Thus 
he gained an income to meet his actual needs. 
But he was not satisfied with his work, and 
realized that it would have only temporary appre- 
ciation. In the autumn of 1 8 19 he went to Nor- 
folk, where he remained six months. Taking up 
the story of his life, as found in the last two 
volumes of manuscript journals in the New York 
Historical Society, we find many revelations of 
interest and pathos. He secured commissions for 
paintings in Norfolk, largely portraits, to the 
amount of three hundred and fifteen dollars. The 
first part of his sojourn was alone; but later his 
wife joined him. The promises of the first 
weeks failed to be redeemed in some cases. To 
his journal, March 21, 1820, he confided: 

It is now long since I have begun a picture & I look 
anxiously to the close of my stay here. I have many 
visitors, much praise & flattery, and I have been con- 
stantly employ'd, but after all shall arrive in N. Y. per- 
haps as poor as I left it. I have supported myself & my 
family, & perhaps open'd a source of support (or more) 
for the future. I ought to be thankful. I am, altho' my 
spirits sink sometimes. 

While in Norfolk he sketched and later 
painted a picture, "Christ Rejected," which 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 269 

became very popular as an exhibit. It was sent 
on exhibition to Boston, Portland, and elsewhere 
in New England, and as far west as Ohio. In 
Portland alone the returns financially were three 
hundred dollars in two weeks; in New York it 
remained fourteen weeks on exhibition and 
aggregated six hundred and fifty dollars. Minis- 
ters urged their parishioners to see the painting, 
and, in spite of marked defects in drawing and 
color, it was widely heralded. While in Nor- 
folk, Dunlap wrote, and had printed, a descriptive 
pamphlet outlining the characters and motif of 
the picture. 39 He acknowledged his indebtedness 
to West's painting of the same subject, but said : 
"It is scarcely within the limits of possibility, cer- 
tainly not of probability, that Mr. West's Picture 
should ever be seen in the western world." What 
seemed to him improbable, however, happened 
in a short time; West's painting was sent to 
America on exhibition, in charge of his son, and 
Dunlap was compelled to make some modifica- 
tions in his painting, where the figures resembled 
his model too closely. 

The success with this religious subject induced 
him to paint others — "Christ Bearing the Cross" 

39 Descriptive Pamphlet of Dunlap' s Painting of Christ 
Rejected (Norfolk, no date). See full title in the Bibliog- 
raphy, p. 21. 



270 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

and "Death on the Pale Horse." 40 According 
to a descriptive pamphlet printed in Boston after 
the death of Dunlap, the painting of "Death on 
the Pale Horse, or Opening of the First Four 
Seals," reached a high-water mark of popularity 
and an offer of ten thousand dollars was refused 
for the painting. 41 Possibly this refers to West's 
painting of the same subject. "A Child Return- 
ing from School" and "The Historic Muse," 
were painted about the same time, while Dunlap 
was executing a commission for portraits in 
Orwell, Vermont. 

One who seeks information about Dunlap, the 
painter, is beset with discouragements. In view of 
the vast amount of work which he accomplished 
with his brush and pencil, it is surprising how 
little can now be traced. On the other hand, his 
paintings were curios rather than works of art in 
the true meaning; yet they gained a degree of 
popularity which would naturally insure them 
remembrance until the present time. Looking over 
the catalogues of annual exhibitions of the 
National Academy of Design, from 1826 to 1836, 
one finds Dunlap's name attached to scores of 

40 The first was painted in 1824, the latter in 1828. For 
detailed study, see Isham, History of American Painting 
(New York, 1905), pp. 186-201. 

41 Descriptive Pamphlet of Painting of Death on the Pale 
Horse (Boston, 1840). 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 271 

paintings of varied kinds; very few of these can 
now be traced. 42 Among the portraits mentioned 
on these lists are those of Governor George Clin- 
ton, Anthony Bleecker, General P. B. Porter, 
Bishop Channing Moore, of Virginia, and George 
P. Morris. Subjects of religious and allegorical 
paintings by Dunlap, exhibited during these years, 
include "Cupid Sleeping," "Scene from Cooper's 
The Spy/' "Barabbas and the Thieves," "Our 
Saviour and Mary Magdalene in the Garden," 
"Richard and Kenneth from Scott's The Talis- 
man." In March, 1905, there were sold in 
Philadelphia a collection of miniatures on ivory 
and some sketches in oil and water-color by Dun- 
lap. The latter were landscapes in New York, 
New Jersey, and Philadelphia. There were six- 
teen miniatures, only four of which could be 
surely recognized — Mrs. Wignell, Mrs. Darley, 
James Fennell, and the artist's miniature of him- 
self. 43 

As the years passed, Dunlap was weakened by 
sickness and more financial reverses. Two bene- 
fits were arranged for him — one by his friends 
among actors and playwrights, the other by his 
colleagues among artists. The first was in Feb- 

42 Dunlap was the organizer as well as the beneficiary of 
this academy; see Isham, op. cit., chap. 10. 

43 An attractive catalogue of this sale was compiled by 
Stan V. Henkels. 



272 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

ruary, 1833, although Dunlap recorded the month 
as March; and the sum of twenty-five hundred 
dollars was netted for his benefit. For this occa- 
sion a poem was written by George P. Morris. 44 
The second benefit was five years later — a loan 
exhibition, known as the Dunlap Exhibition, in 
November, 1838. Paintings were loaned by 
Trumbull, Cole, Durand, Jarvis, Copley, and the 
following by Dunlap : "Calvary," "The Historic 
Muse," "A Child Returning from School," 
"Scene from The Spy," and various portraits. 
In announcing this exhibition and soliciting the 
patronage of the public, G. C. Verplanck empha- 
sized its purpose as a benefit to our 

estimable fellow-citizen, MR. DUNLAP, who is well 
known to you, as having rendered great and lasting 
services to art, history and literature of our state and 
country. In the decline of an honourable life, devoted 
mainly to these objects on which he still exerts his remain- 
ing strength with unimpaired zeal and patriotism, he finds 
his old age, which has so many claims to the respect and 
gratitude of his fellow-citizens, harassed by ill-health and 
straitened circumstances. 45 

The last volume of Dunlap's manuscript 
journal, in the New York Historical Society — 

44 This poem is included in Occasional Addresses, edited by 
Laurence Hutton and William Carey (published by the Dun- 
lap Society, 1890), pp. 51-5 3. 

45 A flattering estimate of Dunlap's ability was in a letter 
from Verplanck in The Talisman, 1829. 



WILLIAM DUNLAP 273 

evidently the last he ever wrote — is covered with 
marbled paper and shows, in the feebleness of 
handwriting, the illness which was upon him. He 
was ambitious and industrious to the last, how- 
ever, anxious to finish the histories of New York, 
and also the history of the progress of art in this 
country. A few scattered extracts from the 
journal will be most fitting here : 

June 26th, 1833. It will be seen by the last vol. that 
I was very busy in Phila., that I was not at ease as 
to health, that I saw many persons to collect materials for 
my history of the Fine Arts in America, yet I left much 
undone. This day I sit down again in New York to con- 
tinue my labours & enjoy the blessings conferred upon me 
& be thankful. 

July 10th, 1833. See Durand & engage him to engrave 
my portrait for the Hist, of the Arts. 

July 20th, 1833. My work appeared to bring on stric- 
ture. Is it the effect of natural decay? Must I refrain 
from this, so delightful to me? Read Gibbon's Rome. 

August 26th, 1833. Begun 2 portraits. Met Paulding 
& Cooper. Bank acc't $123. [Notes on books read for 
his history and mention of increasing illness.] 

Thursday, April 3rd, 1834. [After an operation.] I sin- 
cerely believed it to be my duty & the will of God that I 
should undergo this operation & to his will I hope in all 
things to resign myself with thanks & gratitude. Read 
a little & think a little relatively to my Hist, of Art. 

In addition to these histories of the theater 
and of art, Dunlap wrote, during the last years, 



274 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

a school history of New York, 46 in dialogue, 
and a History of the New Netherlands, which 
appeared almost simultaneously with his death. 

Few men were more gracious and generous 
than Dunlap. It often seems, in reading his life, 
that he was the victim of the schemes and knavery 
of others, because of his very kindliness and 
credulity. An anecdote told by Dr. John Francis 
illustrates this trait. 47 A French refugee, Dr. 
Pierre Michaux, had published a tract, with a 
Latin title, on some surgical subject. In spite of 
its distorted facts, it attracted much attention. 
Dr. Wright Post, an eminent but irascible phy- 
sician, begged Dunlap to write a caricature of the 
French doctor and his tract. Ready to please his 
friends and happy to be chosen, Dunlap wrote a 
satire which was used as an after-piece at the 
John Street Theater. It was called Fractura 
Minimi Digiti. Michaux, hearing of the carica- 
ture, saw it at the theater, and was so exasperated 
at its mimicry of his features and manners that he 
attacked Dunlap on the street, beating him so 
severely that the playwright was ill for several 
days. 

Dunlap's work in both art and drama was 

46 A History of New York for Schools (New York, 1837. 
2 vols., i6mo). History of the New Netherlands, etc. (New 
York, 1839; 2 vols., 8vo). 

47 John W. Francis, Old New York, 1866, pp. 66-8. 






WILLIAM DUNLAP 275 

ephemeral, judged by modern standards. He 
wrote plays rapidly to catch the favor of the hour, 
and they were soon forgotten. He lost health 
and patrimony in a seemingly futile effort to ele- 
vate the theater and cultivate a taste for native 
talent. He gave fitful attention to art, in his 
youth, gaining only mediocre skill which yielded 
him a source of income for his later years. Turn- 
ing from an estimate of his personal achievement 
to his influence on American drama and art, we 
must admit that Dunlap should be honored. His 
ideals were rudely treated in the struggle of life, 
but he never lost his faith in them nor in his 
countrymen. He believed that later workers 
would create something worthy, in place of his 
own defective products. 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN AND 
PIONEERS IN FICTION 




- :. ■ . • ' ....... , „...J 

From a miniature painted by William Dunlap, 1806, engraved 
by J. B. Forrest; reproduced from National Portrait Gallery 0} 
Distinguished Americans, 1835. 7 



VIII 

CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN AND 
PIONEERS IN FICTION 

In the history of the world's literature, fiction, 
in its modern meaning, has been one of the latest 
forms of development. For various reasons, the 
novelist came late in America. A realization of 
the true relation of man to his neighbors and his 
surroundings must precede the creation of the 
novel. This grasp of conditions, and the ability 
to portray them in vivid narrative, did not exist 
in America until the stability of the nation had 
been assured. Slowly the colonists had emerged 
from repression, and indifference to nature, 
beauty, art, until they seemed to have a new 
appreciation of such influences. Then this 
awakening was retarded by the struggle for free- 
dom. War and its issues were the themes which 
commended themselves to the patriot-writers. 
When independence had been won, unity was not 
yet established, and literature took the forms of 
argumentation and satire to secure national har- 
mony and a stable government. Then followed 
a period of bombast, an ambition to be original. 
Prodigal pens did not wait for training, but wrote 
with a braggadocio which took the place of art. 
279 



280 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Under such conditions, the first products of 
imaginative type were generally in meter — odes 
and a few bizarre dramas already mentioned. 
The beginnings of a national fiction were still 
delayed. In 1789 Isaiah Thomas printed, at his 
Boston shop, a novel, The Power of Sympathy; 
or, the Triumph of Nature founded in Truth." 
This was without name of author, but in the copy 
at the American Antiquarian Society there is a 
pencil note, after the title, "by Mrs. Sarah Went- 
worth (Apthorp) Morton." Like other early 
tales of this period both in England and in 
America, this was a story of seduction and deceit, 
with a pronounced moral. The author dedicated 
the two tiny volumes — 

To the Young Ladies, of United Columbia. These 
Volumes, Intended to represent the specious Causes and 
to expose the fatal Consequences of Seduction; To in- 
spire the Female Mind with a Principle of Self Compla- 
cency, and to Promote the Economy of Human Life, are 
Inscribed, with Esteem and Sincerity, By their Friend and 
Humble Servant. 

The Author. Boston. January, 1789. 

The tale is in the form of letters from the 
young women and men introduced — Harrington, 
Worthy, Harriot, and Myra. A sample of 
the sentimental style of this pioneer effort at 
fiction follows: 

You may now felicitate me — I have had an interview 
with the charmer I informed you of Her mien is 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 281 

elegant — her disposition inclining to the melancholy, and 
yet her temper is affable, and her manners easy. And as 
I poured my tender vows into the heart of my beloved, a 
crimson drop stole across her cheek, and thus I con- 
strue it in my own favour, as the sweet messenger of 
hope. 1 

The following year appeared Charlotte 
Temple, published in England in 1790, and four 
years later in America. Its author, Mrs. Susanna 
Rowson, daughter of a British naval officer, had 
been encouraged to write her impressions of 
America. Some of these she had interwoven in 
her earlier novels, Victoria and The Inquisitor; 
but they had meager interest to Americans when 
compared with the later tear-inciting tale of brass 
buttons, American war-scenes, and feminine 
tragedy and sensibility in Charlotte Temple. This 
maintained a wonderful hold upon the readers of 
its own and the next generation. 2 

Royall Tyler and Hugh Henry Brackenridge 
wrote some fiction as well as drama. Their narra- 
tives, The Algerine Captive and Modem Chivalry, 

1 The Power of Sympathy; or, the TRIUMPH of NATURE 
founded in TRUTH. 2 vols. Printed at Boston, by Isaiah 
Thomas and Company. Sold at their Bookstore, No. 45 New- 
bury Street, and at said Thomas's Bookstore in WORCESTER 
(1789), pp. 7-9- 

2 Charlotte Temple (London, 1790; New York, 1794)- It 
has recently been reprinted. Several editions appeared earlier. 
The grave of the heroine is often searched for by tourists 
in Trinity Churchyard, New York. 



282 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

seem slow reading to the student today, but they 
aroused enthusiasm at the time of their appear- 
ance, and are still of interest as revelations of the 
tastes and customs of the period which they por- 
tray. Both were of the adventurous type, ming- 
ling romance with heavy humor. 3 

During the last years of the eighteenth century 
several romances were written in England and on 
the continent, of the sentimental, fantastic kind, 
like Lewis' The Monk, Mrs. RadclifTe's The 
Mysteries of Udolpho, and Godwin's Caleb Wil- 
liams. These novels were published in 1794, and 
became models for initial efforts in American 
fiction of the early nineteenth century. While 
authors advocated originality, and often at- 
tempted to achieve it, the earliest Americal novels 
were really adaptations of English models. 
The reflex influence of Puritanism was shown 
in a few stories of this time, fittingly called "melo- 
dramatic piety," as Caroline Warren's The 
Gamesters; or, The Ruins of Innocence, and The 
Pozver of Sympathy, outlined above. 

Charles Brockden Brown began his work, as 
the first American who chose fiction as a special 
field, at the meeting of the eighteenth and nine- 

3 The Algerine Captive, or the Adventures of Doctor Updike 
Underhill, six years a prisoner among the Algerines (Walpole, 
1797) ; Modern Chivalry, or Adventures of Captain John Far- 
rago and Teague 'Regan, his Servant (Philadelphia, 1792; 
1796 ; 2 vols.). 






CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 283 

teenth centuries. His novels show the transitional 
influences from romance to realism. His adher- 
ence to English models of his time, and also his 
aim to be original in background, are expressed in 
a sentence which he wrote after he had finished 
his first novel, Wieland, in 1798: 

When a mental comparison is made between this 
and the mass of novels, I am inclined to be pleased with 
my own production. But when the objects of comparison 
are changed, and I revolve the transcendant merits of 
Caleb Williams, my pleasure is diminished, and is pre- 
served from a total extinction only by the reflection that 
this performance is the first.* 

The life of this first American novelist has 
been told discursively, but inadequately as regards 
vital information, by his friend, William Dunlap. 
Unfortunately, the sources of the biographer's 
material — many letters and journals — were not 
liberally used by him, and may have perished with 
the mass of his own literary remains. Like the 
pioneer painter, Benjamin West, Brown came 
from Quaker stock, which seemed to scorn all 
aesthetic delights ; yet, in the sweet sanity and 
peace of temperament which characterize this 
sect there existed the best soil for fruitage of 
the imagination. Brown, however, had other 
inheritance which gave him strong emotions and 

4 William Dunlap, Life of Charles Brockden Brown (1815), 
Vol. I, p. 107. 



284 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

fancies; for in his veins Norman blood mingled 
with that of England. 

His uncle, from whom he derived his middle 
name, held positions of honor in early Philadel- 
phian history. He was "the skilful conveyancer 
and great scrivener" who framed the articles of 
agreement for the Philadelphia Library Company, 
instituted by Franklin, in 1731. The family story 
regarding this uncle's youth, and his emigration 
to America, was a favorite with his nephew, and 
is of general interest. When he was a lad 
studying law in England, he was apprenticed to a 
celebrated barrister who was at odds with the gov- 
ernment of Charles II. Accidentally, the appren- 
tice was hidden in the room where his employer 
and some friends were discussing a plot against 
the government. When the youth was discovered, 
various suggestions were made regarding his fate ; 
for he could not be left at liberty with such a 
weighty secret. To save him from death, his 
employer testified that he was of "too feeble a 
mind" to cause any injury to them by his knowl- 
edge, but he agreed that the boy, for safety, 
should be shipped to the American colonies. 

Our pioneer novelist was born in Philadelphia, 
January, 1771, probably at 117 South Second 
Street; this was his father's home for many 
years. He was weak physically, but studious at a 
very early age. According to family tradition, he 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 285 

could be left alone for hours on the floor at home, 
even as a baby, if he were provided with a book. 
One of the chief delights of his childhood was to 
climb upon the chairs and tables and study the few 
maps upon the walls. At ten years he showed 
an unusual maturity of mind. An incident is told 
to illustrate this, which suggests a touch of prig- 
gishness in him. A visitor had aroused his resent- 
ment by calling him "boy," and questioning his 
statements of facts. The child replied: "Why 
does he call me boy? Does he not know that it 
is neither size nor age, but understanding that 
makes the man? I could ask him an hundred 
questions none of which he could answer." 5 

Robert Proud was a famous schoolmaster of 
Philadelphia, as well as its local historian. To 
his school young Brown was sent to exert his 
already strained mind and nerves by close 
application to classic texts. Fortunately, the 
schoolmaster had an understanding, rare for that 
day, of wholesome educational methods. He 
realized the needs of his pupil, and insisted that 
he should often leave his books and go into the 
woods, where nature would be both a doctor and 
a teacher. Although to the boy the walks often 
proved a time for lonely, gloomy fancies, yet he 

5 Dunlap's Life of Brown, Vol. I, pp. 12, 13. Jared 
Sparks, A Library of American Biography, New York, 1839. 
Vol. I, pp. 122; article on Brown by William H. Prescott 



286 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

gained impressions of fine scenery which were 
used afterward in his writing. 

He was early convinced that he would be an 
author, and began with imitations of Homer 
and Virgil, Ossian and Milton. American history 
next attracted him, and he wrote some epics to 
celebrate the discovery of America and the deeds 
of his heroes, Cortez and Pizarro. He did not 
venture, at first, to break through all custom and 
distress his family by the choice of literature as a 
profession; so he followed the example of his 
father and three brothers, and studied law. 
Meanwhile he had yearnings for literature, spent 
much of his time in spinning fancies and literary 
hopes, and contributed some verses and essays 
to local journals. He told, with disgust, of the 
fate of a "Poetical Address to Franklin," which 
had been sent to an Edentown newspaper : 

The blundering printer from his zeal or his ignorance, 
or perhaps from both, substituted 'lie name of Washing- 
ton for that of Franklin. Washington, therefore, stands 
arrayed in awkward colours. Philosophy smiles to behold 
her darling son; she turns with horror and disgust from 
those who have won the laurel of victory in the field of 
battle to this her favorite candidate who had never par- 
ticipated in such bloody glory and whose fame was de- 
rived from the conquest of philosophy alone. 6 

The most absurd qualities were thus attributed to 

6 William Dunlap, Life of Charles Brockden Brown (New 
York, 1815), Vol. I, p. 17, 18. 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 287 

Washington, until the poem became an unintelli- 
gible farce, and was even regarded by some read- 
ers as an intentional insult. More successful was 
the young author in the series of essays called 
"The Rhapsodist," which began in the Columbian 
Magazine in April, 1789. 

The pleasure which Brown found in writing, 
and in the companionship of his friends of liter- 
ary tastes, especially William Wilkinson and Dr. 
Elihu Smith, 7 induced him to give up law and 
devote himself exclusively to literature. The 
effect of this decision upon his family and 
acquaintances may be realized from a comment of 
a local historian, after the novelist's death : 

Mr. Brown had received an education which qualified 
him for the profession which secured wealth free from 
the risks of commerce, — the profession, from which pro- 
ceeded our statesmen, legislators, and rulers; — yet he pre- 
ferred the toilsome occupation of book-making, from the 
pure love of literature and a benevolent desire to benefit 
his fellow-creatures. 8 

The first year after Brown gave up the 
law for literature he spent largely in New York, 

7 The death of Wilkinson in early manhood was a great 
grief to Brown. Dr. Elihu Smith was at this time studying 
medicine in Philadelphia. With another friend, William 
Johnson, a lawyer, he made a home in New York, to which 
Brown came for a part of the year 1797. 

8 See Henry Simpson, Eminent Philadelphians (Philadel- 
phia, 1859). 



288 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

passing some of the time with Dr. Smith, and 
also becoming an inmate of the home of William 
Dunlap. Evidence of the latter fact has been 
found in a manuscript letter from Brown to Dun- 
lap in the possession of the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania, which is here given by permission. 
It was written after Brown's return to Phila- 
delphia. The morose and extravagant tone of 
self-depreciation was characteristic of the writer : 

Philadelphia, Jan'y I, 1798. 
To William Dunlap, Care of Dunlap & Judah, Pearl St., 
New York. 
It is nearly twelve months since I parted from you. 
I believe I have not written to you nor you written to 
me since. How shall I account for your silence? The 
task is an easy one. I was not an object of sufficient im- 
portance to justify the trouble. My infirmities & follies 
were too rooted for you to hope their cure. Admonition 
& remonstrance under your own hand, would be super- 
fluous to this end. Hence your habitual reserve & 
silence of the pen suffered no interruption on my ac- 
count. I lived with you six months. During that time 
you, no doubt, scrutinized my conduct & character with 
accuracy. You must have formed some conclusions 
respecting me, but you thought proper to be silent respect- 
ing them. You weighed the opposite advantages of com- 
munication & reserve. You decided in favour of the 
latter. I revere your rectitude, my friend, in as great 
a degree as I detest my own imbecility: but it is allowable 
for me to question the propriety of your decision. 

Communication, it appears to me, was your duty. 
Whatever was my depravity, it did not sink me below 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 289 

deserving a mere verbal effort for my restoration. Had I 
led the way you would have followed. There needed only 
an introduction of the topic by me. Had I mentioned my 
opinion of your incommunicative temper & importuned 
you for a knowledge of your sentiments, the barrier 
would have been removed. It is true I was criminal in 
failing to employ this means. Were you exempt from 
blame in making these means necessary? Think of this, 
my friend, if I may still call you by that name. Surely, 
all esteem for me has not perished in your bosom 

I think upon the life of last winter with self-loathing 
almost insupportable. Alas ! my friend, few consolations 

of a self-approving mind have fallen to my lot I 

am sometimes apt to think that few human beings have 
drunk so deeply of the cup of self-abhorrence as I have. 
. . . . Whether it will end but with my life I know not. 

I have written to Elihu and informed him of the trans- 
actions of the last few months. You will of course be 
made acquainted with them. I know not whether your 
engagements have allowed you to prosecute any similar 
undertaking. I have longed for a knowledge of your views 
& situation. I am not entitled to know this but by second 
hand. I make no demands upon you. As I am, you 
despise me. I shall die, as I have lived, a victim to per- 
verse and incurable habits. My progress in knowledge 
has enlightened my judgment, without adding to my 
power. 

I have done nothing to deserve the esteem of your 
wife. I do not therefore expect it. That is no reason 
which [sic] I should refuse her my respect. She is in the 
highest degree entitled to it; present it therefore to her. 

C. B. Brown. 

In a note, signed "W. Dunlap," below this 






290 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

letter, is the comment: "So at certain moments 
could think & write one of the purest & best 
beloved of men." 9 Such a letter, and others from 
which we shall quote, are of great assistance in 
interpreting the strange haunting fancies and: 
moods which assailed Brown as novelist. 

Dr. Elihu Smith exerted much influence in giv- 
ing poise to the emotions of Brown, and in urging 
him to definite literary work. The two men were 
contrasts in many ways. The physician was abso- 
lutely sane and practical, and his geniality has 
passed into many literary records. At his apart- 
ments in Pine Street the Friendly Club met — a 
band of young lawyers, physicians, and authors. 
Literature was becoming fashionable, but the 
media for its expression were few. Clubs in vari- 
ous centers started magazines, which were gener- 
ally short-lived, but served their purpose as a 
means of expression for the members. Such was 
the aim of the familiar Medical Repository, estab- 
lished in 1794 by Dr. Smith and two other phy- 
sicians. By contact with such patient, wise minds, 
Brown found an incentive to write both essays 
and fiction. 

Yellow fever was a scourge in America dur- 
ing the last decade of the eighteenth century. 

9 A note in Dunlap's manuscript journal, April 12, 1798, 
says that he was then visiting Brown in Philadelphia at 119 
South Second Street. 






CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 291 

With other portents of evil, it increased the emo- 
tional ferment which was shown in many direc- 
tions. This disease had raged in Philadelphia in 
1793; its scenes of devastation furnished Brown 
with the germ for his novel Arthur Mervyn. His 
family left the city to escape contagion. When 
the plague attacked New York in 1798, Brown 
was there with his friend, Dr. Elihu Smith. His 
brothers urged him to return to Philadelphia, 
but he refused to leave his friend. They adopted 
sanitary safeguards and faced the danger. A 
strange appeal came to their humanity, and proved 
a fatal risk. Among the friends who had been 
in their circle in New York for a year was Dr. 
Joseph Scandella. Just as he was about to leave 
for Italy, he learned that two of his compatriots, 
a young girl and her mother, were ill and in want 
in Philadelphia. He went to their aid, remained 
until both had died of yellow fever, and then 
returned to New York, to find that he could not 
secure lodging in any inn, as he was already show- 
ing signs of the disease. Dr. Smith took this 
friend to his own home, hoping to cure him and 
not become infected ; but the fever attacked both 
Dr. Smith and Brown. The latter recovered, but 
found that both the physicians had died. This 
loss of friendship was an overwhelming grief to 
Brown, but he rallied his mental powers and tried 
to write something: worthy of his friend who had 



292 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

been such an inspiration. The home of William 
Dunlap, at Perth Amboy, again became his resi- 
dence for a brief time. Afterward he returned to 
Philadelphia. 

Before the death of Dr. Smith, Brown had 
written a dialogue-essay, "The Rights of 
Women," which was printed in book-form, under 
the title Alcuin. 10 The "Advertisement" in the 
front of the book is dated March, 1787, and is j 
signed by "E. H. Smith," who states that the j 
material was "put in his hands for publication by 
a friend." The argument of Alcuin was in behalf 
of more justice for women, equal suffrage, and 
better education. The woman maintained that, 
if the intelligence of men was superior to that of 
women, it was only a proof "in how mournful a j 
degree that capacity has been neglected or per- 
verted." In the same magazine had appeared, 
two months earlier and unsigned, "The Man at 
Home" — a series of rhapsodic musings. In June 
of the same year the first chapters of Arthur 
Mervyn; or, Memoirs of the Year 1793, were 
printed in this journal, although the book was 
not finished and published until the next year. 

Such scattering publications in magazines pre- 



10 Alcuin: A Dialogue (New York, 1798; yj pages). This 
was first printed as "The Rights of Women" in the Weekly 
Magazine of Original Essays, Fugitive Pieces and Interesting 
Intelligence, Vol. I, 1798 (Philadelphia). 






CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 293 



faced the printing of his first book in fiction. On 
the cover of this Weekly Magazine were solicited 
"Proposals for the publication of a novel, ££3/ 
Walk, or the Man Unknown to Himself." Brown, 
who was the author of this story, accepted the 
most promising of the proposals — namely, that 
which bore the larger share of the expense — and 
the publication began. When the book was 
nearly completed in press, the printer died. His 
executors refused to finish the work, or to sell the 
sheets at any reasonable price; so the effort was 
useless for the time. A reference in the manu- 
script journal of Dunlap, April 11, 1798, suggests 
that this first, unfinished novel contained the germ, 
at least, of Brown's later story Edgar Huntley, 
Dunlap wrote in his journal : "Call on Brown 
who goes with me to bookseller's & gives me 
some account of his 'Sky Walk,' he says it is 
founded on Somnambulism." 

More information of a personal nature about 
Brown, and his romantic interests during this 
year, is furnished in extracts from Dunlap's 
manuscript journals. The first is dated "May 
1st; Call with Smith & my wife to see Miss 
Potts, C. B. B.'s wished-for." Again: "May 
3rd; Miss Potts drinks tea with us." For 
some reason, in spite of the hospitality of his 
friends and his own ardor of temperament, 
Brown did not secure his "wished-for" as his 



294 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 






wife. Possibly the gloom of spirit which fol- 
lowed during the next few months, and which 
was indicated in the letter to Dunlap already 
quoted, was enhanced by this disappointment. 

If success be gauged by the praise of a few 
friends, and by sufficient sale of books to pay the 
expenses of their publication, then Brown was 
successful during the next two years; for there 
issued from the press four volumes of fiction in 
1798 and 1799. Wieland; or, The Transforma- 
tion, the first to appear, has remained in memory 
as Brown's most representative work in fiction. 
It contained unquestioned evidence of originality 
and imaginative skill; but his later, rapidly pub- 
lished novels failed to fulfil the promise of this 
first book. Wieland is a pot-pourri of strange 
sensations, isolated scenes of tragic strength, bits 
of fine description, and labored, discursive style. 
It would be hard to find a story with more fan- 
tastic, incredible incidents, which the reader is 
supposed to accept as "supernaturalities," al- 
though it is not difficult to find simple explanation 
for many of the absurd devices of the novelist's 
imagination. There are serious dissertations 
upon a theory of self -combustion and the elixir 
of life ; hypnotism and ventriloquism combine to 
make an interesting villain. The author is not 
willing, however, to let the reader accept the pal- 
pable explanation of the blighting influence, "the 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 295 

diabolical malice," of this character, Carwin. He 
seeks to wrap about him a veil of mystery and to 
introduce him in labored narration : 

One afternoon I was standing in the door of my 
house when I marked a person passing close to the edge 
of the bank that was in front. His gait was awkward and 
rustic. His form was ungainly and disproportioned. 
Shoulders broad and square, breast sunken, his head 
drooping, his body of uniform breadth, supported by long 
and lank legs, were the ingredients of his frame. His 
garb was not ill-adapted to such a figure. A slouched 
hat, tarnished by the weather, a coat of thick gray cloth, 
cut and wrought, as it seemed, by a country tailor, blue 
worsted stockings, and shoes fastened by thongs, and 
deeply discolored by dust, which brush had never dis- 
turbed, constituted his dress. 11 

Following this passage is a minute description 
of the impression made upon the woman by this 
passer-by, her surprise at his fascinating face, 
and especially the tremors which thrilled her at 
the sound of his voice as he asked for a drink of 
buttermilk from the dairy-maid: "When he 
uttered the words 'for sweet charity's sake,' I 
dropped the cloth which I held in my hand, my 
heart overflowed with sympathy, and my eyes 
with unbidden tears." Such florid emotionalism 
was largely typical of the writing of that period, 
but it found an extremist in Brown. A recent 

11 Wieland, or the Transformation {New York, 1798), 
chap. 6, pp. 58-60. 



296 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

historian of American literature has said, with 
justice: "Brown frequently raised a super- 
structure of mystery on a basis ludicrously 
weak." 12 

The real plot of the story was based upon the 
hallucination of a father that he had received 
command, from supernatural sources, to murder 
his family. It is evident that this theme was 
suggested to him by an occurrence just before the 
tale was written. This fact is attested in two 
reviews of Brown's novels, especially of Wieland. 
The American Review and Literary Journal, 
which was edited in part by Brown, said in an 
extended notice of Wieland: "The principal 
incidents, however incredible and shocking, are 
founded on well authenticated facts, and sublime 
and tragical in the highest degree." 13 A tragedy 
similar in general outlines to that narrated by 
Brown occurred in New York the year before 
Wieland was published. As late as 18 19, in a 
survey of Brown's work in the North American 
Review, 14 " the critic commended the novelist's 
choice of American scenes and added: "Some- 
times the author takes advantage of a recent event 

12 Henry A. Beers, Initial Studies in American Letters, New 
York, 1 89 1, p. 65. 

13 American Review and Literary Journal (New York, 
1801), Vol. I. See also New York Weekly Magazine, Vol. 
II, pp. 20-28, for the actual facts of such tragedy. 

u North American Review, June, 1819, Vol. IX, pp. 58-64. 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 297 

amongst ourselves, as in Wieland, which is too 
shocking to receive any aid from exaggeration or 
to lose any interest from its notoriety." 

Within a few months after the first novel was 
issued the second appeared, Ormond, or The 
Secret Witness. The villain, who gave his name to 
the title, was clearly modeled after William God- 
win's Falkland in Caleb Williams. In truth, the 
two novels are not dissimilar in plan and effect. 
The theme of seduction was treated awkwardly, 
amid the peaceful environment of Philadelphia. 
The character of Constantia Dudley, however, is 
fairly well drawn; she is superior to his other 
women. She was too prone to "ardent medita- 
tion," but through her words Brown expressed 
some sensible ideas on women's education. 15 It 
was this character of Constantia, and the novel in 
which she was outlined, that especially "delighted 
and deeply affected" Shelley, when, under the 
spell of Godwin's influence, he reveled in tales of 
gruesomeness amid surroundings of real life. 16 

In this second novel there are some sentences 
descriptive of the yellow fever in Philadelphia, 
but the third in time, Arthur Mervyn; or, Mem- 
oirs of the Year 1793, owed its chief interest to a 

15 Ormond, or The Secret Witness (New York, 1798), pp. 
3i» 32. 

"Edward Dowden, Life of Shelley (London, 1886), Vol. I, 
pp. 472, 473. 



298 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

dramatic portrayal of this fateful year in Phila- 
delphia. It was the most ambitious of all his 
stories, and at the same time the most involved 
and prolix. In some descriptive passages the 
realism is so strong that it stirs the feelings of a 
reader today, in spite of his recognition that the 
novel is a good example of sensationalism. In 
criticism, discriminating and appreciative, W. P. 
Trent has expressd the true attitude of a reader to 
this special novel and the general estimate of 
Brown in fiction : 

It is impossible to surrender one's self to the illusion 
that such adventures could have happened in Brown's 
prim birthplace; but it is easy under the influence of 
his strong imagination to walk the deserted streets of 
the plague-stricken city and to enter its forbidding houses 
tenanted by the dying and the dead. If this be true 
today, it seems hardly fair to sneer at the men and 
women who a century ago regarded Brown as a great 
and moving writer. His models were their standards, and 
they were right in perceiving that he measured well up 
to the Godwins and the Radcliffes. They had not progressed 
far enough to demand a sense of humor, an artistic order- 
ing of material, susceptibility to the charms of nature, and 
a subtle psychological analysis. They knew that their 
emotions had been deeply stirred, and that in some par- 
ticulars at least the life around them had been faithfully 
set down. 17 

Doubtless the fearful experiences of the fever, 

17 W. P. Trent, A History of American Literature (New 
York, 1903), p. 211. 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 299 

which had come upon Brown in New York, in- 
creased his imaginative pictures of the condi- 
tions in Philadelphia, although history has verified 
many of his statements. His passages of narra- 
tion have been compared fittingly with Defoe's 
picture of the London plague. A selection may be 
chosen to illustrate the crude, yet haunting, 
portrayal : 

.... In proportion as I drew near the city, the 
tokens of its calamitous condition became more appar- 
ent. Every farm-house was filled with supernumerary 
tenants; fugitives from home; and haunting the skirts of 
the road, eager to detain every passenger with inquiries 

after news The market-place and each side of this 

magnificent avenue were illuminated, as before, by lamps; 
but between the verge of the Schuylkill and the heart of 
the city, I met not more than a dozen figures; and these 
were ghost-like, wrapped in cloaks from behind which they 
cast upon me glances of wonder and suspicion; and, as I 
approached, changed their course, to avoid touching me. 
Their clothes were sprinkled with vinegar; and their nos- 
trils defended from contagion by some powerful perfume. 18 

Then follows a description of the entrance of 
the dread friend of the infected city — the slow, 
stealthily-moving hearse : 

The driver was seated on it. I stood still, to mark his 
visage, and to observe the course which he proposed to 
take. Presently, a coffin, borne by two men, issued from 
the house. The driver was a negro but his companions 

18 Arthur Mervyn; or, Memoirs of the Year 1793 (Phila- 
delphia, 1799). chap. 15, pp. 143-45- 



300 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

were white. Their features were marked by ferocious in- 
difference to danger or pity. 

One of them, as he assisted in thrusting the coffin into 
the cavity provided for it, said, "I'll be damned if I think 
the poor dog was quite dead. It wasn't the fever that 
ailed him, but the sight of the girl and her mother on 
the floor. I wonder how they all got into that room. 
What carried them there?" 

The other surlily muttered, "Their legs to be sure." 

"But what should they hug together in one room for?" 

"To save us trouble to be sure." 

"And I thank them with all my heart; but damn it, it 
wasn't right to put him in his coffin before the breath was 
fairly gone. I thought the last look he gave me, told me to 
stay a few minutes." 

"Pshaw ! He could not live. The sooner dead the 
better for him; as well as for us. Did you mark how he 
eyed us, when we carried away his wife and daughter? 
I never cried in my life, since I was knee-high, but curse 
me if I ever felt in better tune for the business than just 
then. Hey !" continued he, looking up and observing me 
standing a few paces distant, and listening to their dis- 
course, "What's wanted? Anybody dead?" 

Such a narrative of a tragic situation, although 
overdrawn and melodramatic, has a power which 
attracts and, also, repels. These low, callous grave- 
diggers, with their latent humanity, and the villain 
Welbeck, are depicted with a realism that is pain- 
ful. During these years, chronicled in Brown's 
novels, there seemed to be an emotional ferment 
in many parts of America. Curiosity and semi- 
fear, not unlike the signs of childhood, assailed 









CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 301 

the mind of the country. Contemporaneous with 
the new interest in science among the educated 
classes were the feverish speculations among the 
ignorant about clairvoyance, somnambulism, ven- 
triloquism, and other mysteries on the borderland 
between fancy and reality. Quacks of all kinds 
were ubiquitous, and credulity reigned. Such 
evidences of mental whims and fears were re- 
flected in embryonic drama and fiction. They 
characterized many of the newspaper columns 
that were satirized by the Hartford Wits in The 
Echo. 

As Brown introduced ventriloquism and specu- 
lations on the elixir of life into Wieland, so he 
chose somnambulism for the germ-idea of his 
fourth novel, Edgar Huntley; or, Memoirs of 
a Sleepzvalker. 19 There were also scenes of ad- 
venture here, especially of Clithero, sleep-walker 
and grave-digger, and culminating in the en- 
counter of the hero with a panther. This has 
suggested Cooper's famous scene in The Pioneers. 
In the preface to this fourth novel Brown empha- 
sized his determination to depict American 
scenery and foster native fiction : 

One merit the writer may at least claim; — that of 
calling forth the passions and engaging the sympathy of 
the reader by means hitherto unemployed by preceding 

19 Edgar Huntley; or, Memoirs of a Sleepwalker (Phila- 
delphia, 1799, 1800). 



302 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

authors. Puerile superstition and exploded manners, 
Gothic castles and chimeras, are the materials usually em- 
ployed for this end. The incidents of Indian hostility, 
and the perils of the Western wilderness, are far more 
suitable; and for a native of America to overlook these 
would admit of no apology. 

Brown and Cooper have been compared as 
painters of Indian character, the claims of Brown 
being based upon certain scenes in Edgar Huntley. 
Brown overlooked the nobler qualities poetized 
by Philip Freneau. He portrayed the Indian as 
cruel and malign, and used him as a means of 
increasing the elements of horror in his story. 
Cooper, on the other hand, idealized the Indian 
type, emphasizing the more romantic traits. 
These three early authors, Freneau, Brown, and 
Cooper, portrayed diverse qualities of the Indian 
and, in their totality, revealed the red man as 
known to the pioneer settlers, when the Indian 
still lived on the borders of civilization, and his 
haunts and habits were familiar. 

The wildly incredible adventures of his hero, 
Edgar Huntley, in the mountain districts of 
eastern Pennsylvania aroused criticism as well as 
interest among readers. Brown realized the 
justice of the former, and wrote to his brother 
James : 

Your remarks upon the gloominess and out-of-nature 
incidents of "Huntley," if they be not just in their full 
extent, are doubtless such as some readers will make, 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 303 

which alone is sufficient reason for dropping the doleful 
tone and assuming a cheerful one, or at least, substituting 
moral causes and daily incidents in place of the prodigious 
and the singular. I shall hereafter fall into that strain. 

To carry out this intention, he abandoned weird 
and adventuresome incidents, and adopted a form 
of tame sentimentality in his last two novels, Clara 
Howard and Jane Talbot. 20 The same plot, based 
upon a lost child and mistaken identity, and some 
of the same characters were introduced into both 
Edgar Huntley and Clara Howard. The heroine, 
of the latter, Mary Wilmot, supporting herself 
and her brother by her needle, was a familiar 
type of womanhood in that day. The letters of 
Jane Talbot and Henry Colden make a weak love- 
story. 

In Edgar Huntley are two sentences worth 
quoting, for they seem to express the author's 
own defects in mental poise and emotional re- 
straint : 

My judgment was for the time, sunk into imbecility 
and confusion! .... Thus I have told thee a bloody and 
disastrous tale : when thou reflectest on the mildness of my 
habits, my antipathy to scenes of violence and blood- 
shed, my unacquaintance with the use of fire-arms, and 
the motives of a soldier, thou wilt scarcely allow credit 
to my story. 21 

20 Clara Howard; or, The Enthusiasm of Love (Philadel- 
phia, 1 801) ; Jane Talbot (Philadelphia, New York, London, 
1801). 

21 Edgar Huntley, Vol. I, p. 210; Vol. II, p. 207. 



304 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Upon these six novels rests the reputation of 
Charles Brockden Brown as a novelist. He failed 
to meet the requirements of fiction of a high 
order; he created only a few strong characters; 
he was discursive and stilted in diction. As 
an example of the last fault, we recall the sen- 
tence on the heroine of Ormond: "Constantia 
enjoyed, in their full extent, the felicities of 
health and self -approbation." 22 In extenuation, 
we must remember that these novels were written 
when Brown was a young man — for he was only 
thirty when the last appeared; that he wrote with 
fatal rapidity; and that he lacked the wisdom of 
rejection and the aid of critical advice. In his 
mature life he repented, too mournfully, of these 
early novels, and repressed the fancies with which 
his imagination was stored. Without question, 
his mind and imagination could produce effective 
scenes. The author's temperament, especially 
shown in his youth and early manhood, and his 
proneness to attacks of melancholy and gruesome 
fancies, explain largely the characteristics of his 
fiction. To these individual traits must be added 
the fashion of the day in literature, and his at- 

22 Ormond, or The Secret Witness, p. 32. Mary Shelley 
commented on Jane Talbot as a "very stupid book," etc ; see 
Edward Dowden's Life of Shelley (London, 1886), Vol. I, pp. 
472, 473. 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 305 

tempts to follow the English imaginative writers 
who were favorites of the hour. 

Brown entered the field of fiction with diffi- 
dence and fear of censure from Americans whom 
he esteemed ; for this form of literature was then 
often condemned as immoral, or too frivolous to 
be read. In the Jefferson Papers, at the Library 
of Congress, there is an interesting letter from 
Brown to Thomas Jefferson, asking his accept- 
ance of Wieland, and explaining, with tiresome 
verbosity, the reasons why he ventured to write 
a novel, and to present it to the statesman, whom 
he much admired. By permission, I quote 
extracts here from the letter : 

After some hesitation, a stranger to the person, though 
not to the character of Thomas Jefferson, ventures to in- 
treat his acceptance of the volume by which this is accom- 
panied I am conscious, however, that this form 

of composition may be regarded by you with indifference 
and contempt, that social & intellectual theories, that the 
history of facts in the processes of nature & the opera- 
tions of government may appear to you the only laudable 
pursuits : that fictitious narratives, in their own nature, 
or in the manner in which they have been hitherto 
conducted, may be thought not to deserve notice, & that, 
consequently, whatever may be the merit of my book as a 
fiction yet it is to be condemn'd because it is a fiction. 

I need not say that my own opinions are different. I 
am therefore obliged to hope that an artful display of 
incidents, the powerful delineation of characters & the 
train of eloquent & judicious reasoning which may be 



306 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

combined in a fictitious work will be regarded by Thomas 
Jefferson with as much respect as they are regarded by 
me 

No man holds a performance which he has deliberately 
offered to the world in contempt : but, if he be a man of 
candour & discernment, his favourable judgment of his 
own work will always be diffidence and fluctuation. I 
confess I foster the hope that Mr. Jefferson will be in- 
duced to open the book that is here offered him : that 
when he has begun it, he will find himself prompted to 
continue & that he will not think the time employ'd upon it 
tediously or uselessly consumed. 

With more than this I dare not flatter myself. That he 
will be pleased in any uncommon degree & that, by his 
recommendation, he will contribute to diffuse the knowl- 
edge of its author, & faciliate a favorable reception to 
future performances, is a benefit far beyond the expecta- 
tions, though certainly, the object of the fondest wishes of 

Charles B. Brown. 23 

One who reads this letter by Brown is natur- 
ally curious to know what reception the letter and 
book won from Jefferson. His answer was brief, 
noncommittal in a way, yet promising some 
degree of appreciation. The answer, however, 
was delayed until Jefferson's return to Philadel- 
phia, and was dated January 15, 1800 — more than 
a year after Brown's letter. 

I receiv'd on my arrival here some days ago the copy 
of the book you were so kind as to send me together with 
your letter, for which be pleased to accept my thanks. 

28 Jefferson Papers, Series II, Vol. V, No. 46. The letter is 
dated December 25, 1798 (45 Pine Street, New York). 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 307 

As soon as I am in a situation to admit it (which is 
hardly the case here) I shall read it, & I doubt not with 
great pleasure, some of the most agreeable moments of 
my life have been spent in reading works of imagination, 
which have this advantage over history that the incidents 
of the former may be dressed in the most interesting 
form, while those of the latter must be confined to fact: 
they cannot therefore present virtue in the best & vice in 
the worst forms possible, as the former may. 

I have the honor to be with great consideration, Sir, 
Your most obed' serv't, 

Th. Jefferson. 24 

Although classified as America's first novelist, 
Brown by his personality exerted as great influ- 
ence upon early literature as by this concrete 
form of writing. For the youth of his own day 
and the next generation he left a potent example 
by renouncing opportunities in law and business, 
and devoting himself to letters as a profession, in 
spite of censure and sacrifices. Prescott lays 
special stress upon Brown's influence in this way 
upon the young men of the next generation, who 
were inspired to test their gifts. 25 After he had 
finished his brief career as novelist, he devoted 
the rest of his life to editing journals, designed 
especially to create a taste for good reading 
among the common people. 

24 Jefferson Papers, Series I, Vol. VII, No. 305 (Library 
of Congress). 

25 A Library of American Biography, Vol. I, p. 180: Pres- 
cott on Brown. 



308 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Beginning in the year of his greatest success 
as novelist, 1799, he ventured as editor of The 
Monthly Magazine and American Review, pub- 
lished in New York. This survived only a year. 
The previous year he had contributed papers to 
The Weekly Magazine of Original Essays, Fugi- 
tive Pieces and Interesting Intelligence of Phila- 
delphia. 26 He may have assisted in editing this 
journal. The most fruitful years of his work 
as editor were from 1803 to 1808, when he edited 
The Literary Magazine and American Register. 21 
In his opening "Address to the Public," dated 
September 1, 1803, he made a persuasive plea for 
support, urging that 

there is not, at present, any other monthly publication in 
America, and that a plan of this kind, if well conducted, 
cannot fail of being highly conducive to amusement and 
instruction. There are many, therefore, it is hoped, who, 
when such a herald as this knocks at their door, will open 
it without reluctance, and admit a visitant who calls only 
once a month; who talks upon every topic; whose 
company may be dismissed or resumed, and who may be 
made to prate or to hold his tongue at pleasure; a com- 
panion he will be, possessing one companionable property, 
in the highest degree, that is to say, a desire to please. 

True to his promise, the editor seemed to "talk 
upon every topic," but, amid much that was 

26 See earlier pages of this chapter for his contributions. 

27 This journal was issued from the press of Conrad, of 
Philadelphia. The publishing house had branches for distri- 
bution in Norfolk and Baltimore. 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 309 

trivial, there were some scholarly papers on 
affairs and letters, showing the editor's informa- 
tion along both lines. Brown was deeply inter- 
ested in American politics, and wrote clearly and 
forcefully upon such themes, in a manner quite 
unlike his florid style in fiction and letters. 
Throughout his life he was a firm Federalist, yet 
a great admirer of Jefferson and Hamilton. In 
later years he criticized the former for his Demo- 
cratic policies. An excellent linguist, he was able 
to speak and read French and Spanish with ease. 
Two of his essays, with translated passages, 
attracted attention and have been preserved. The 
first was An Address to the Government of the 
United States on the Cession of Louisiana to the 
French and on the Late Breach of Treaty by the 
Spaniards, including the Translation of a Memo- 
rial on the War of St. Domingo, and Cession of 
Mississippi to France. This passed into a second 
and revised edition. The next year (1804) ne 
published a translation of A View of the Soil and 
Climate of the United States of America, with 
Supplementary Remarks upon Florida, maps 
etc., by C. F. Volney. 2S 

As such studies in broader fields increased 
his culture, they caused him to regret his earlier, 
more puerile attempts at fiction. In the prospec- 

28 Both these pamphlets were published in Philadelphia, 
1803, and 1804. 



3io HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

tus of his Literary Magazine he expressed the 
true humilty of a man who was acquiring scholar- 
ship and looked back upon his work with keen 
disapproval : 

I am far from wishing that my readers should judge 
of my exertions by my former ones. I have written much, 
but take much blame to myself for something which I 
have written and take no praise for anything. I should 
enjoy a larger share of my own respect, at the present 
moment, if nothing had ever flowed from my pen, the pro- 
duction of which could be traced to me. A variety of 
causes induce me to form such a wish, but I am particu- 
larly influenced by the consideration that time can scarcely 
fail of enlarging and refining the powers of a man; 
while the world is sure to judge of his capabilities and 
principles at fifty by what he has written at fifteen. 

Brown's magazine acquired a fair circulation 
in New York, as well as in Philadelphia. Joseph 
Dennie welcomed Brown into the ranks of journa- 
lists by a kind reference, in The Portfolio, Feb- 
ruary ii, 1804, to the editor as "a gentleman 
whose talents are acknowledged to be of a 
superior order. As author of the novel, 'Wie- 
land,' he acquired considerable celebrity." Brown 
had not signed his name either to his "Address to 
the Public" or to his articles, but his work was 
quickly recognized. Of this reticence he said in 
the "Address" : 

I shall take no pains to conceal my name. Any body 
may know it who chooses to ask my publisher. I shall not, 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 311 

however, put it at the bottom of this address. My diffi- 
dence, as my friends would call it, and my discretion, as 
my enemies (if I have any) would term it, hinder me 
from calling out my name in a crowd. 

He wrote some historical and literary essays, and 
secured contributions on natural history, travels, 
etc. A department of "Remarkable Occurrences" 
was one feature of the journal, and a column of 
"Anecdotes" sought to lighten the mass of serious 
writing. Unfortunately, Brown lacked the sense 
of humor. Such a faculty would have aided him 
in giving a more entertaining touch to his journal. 
In earlier years it might have saved him from 
some of his more extravagant passages of melo- 
drama. This lack of buoyancy was due, in a 
measure, to his physical nature. He confessed 
that he had never known "that lightness and 
vivacity of mind which the divine flow of health, 
even in calamity, produces in some men." 29 

Outwardly his life brightened as the years 
passed. In 1804 he married Elizabeth Linn, of 
New York, daughter of a well-known clergyman 
and sister of another, Rev. John Blair Linn, of 
Philadelphia. The latter was a man of literary 
tastes, who had written two books of passing 
fame. 30 The year after his marriage, Brown 

29 W. H. Prescott's Sketch of Brown, Jared Sparks, A 
Library of American Biography, Vol. I, p. 169. 

30 The Powers of Genius : A Poem by John Blair Linn, 
A.M., Co-Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in the City of 



312 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

wrote to Dunlap of his home happiness, but also 
of his haunting fear that it might not last. 31 The 
birth of twin sons seemed to rouse him, for a 
time, from his morbid fancies. He found a new 
incentive in living, and edited and wrote with 
zeal and encouragement. Proof of this more 
normal state of mind is given in a manuscript 
letter, in the possession of the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania, which is printed by permission. 
The letter was written to his wife from Albany, 
June 17, 1806, where he had gone to visit his 
sisters. He begins the letter with an account of 
the journey by boat : 

I left New York last Thursday morning & on Mon- 
day about twelve got within twelve miles of this place. 
There being no expectation of reaching town before night, 
I gladly got on shore & walked the rest of the way. I 
had scarcely begun my walk when the eclipse began. I 
sat down on the side of a hill from whence there was a 
wide prospect of this great river and its lofty shores & 
enjoyed the grandest and most awful spectacle which I 
ever witnessed I have had a great deal of con- 
versation with our sisters, in which, however, as yet all 
the talk was on my side. They seem'd to partake of all 
your pride and fondness for our little ones 

Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1801 ; Bourville Castle, Phila- 
delphia, 1802 (?)). 

31 "My companion is all that an husband can wish for, 
and, in short, as to my own personal situation, I have nothing 
to wish for but that it may last {Life of Brown, Vol. II, 
p. 113). 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 313 

My fond anticipations of a letter from you were not 
disappointed. I found one here on my arrival, which as- 
sures me of your welfare. You confirm my prognostics 
that the lovely babes will scamper about house, by the 
time of my return. I am grieved that you still enjoy so 
little assistance & I am very glad you have Susan D. I 
have no doubt we shall soon have Massy back again & 
her excellence will only show the brighter by comparison 
with the defects of others. I will write every day. Love 
to thy dear self. 

In a postscript his wife is told to "send the 
Reflector to the printer," with specific directions 
as to his office. Like all of Brown's handwriting, 
this letter shows wonderful delicacy and evenness 
both in the formation of the letters and also in 
the spacing. 

The evidence of fatal disease of the lungs, in 
1808, brought on a return of brooding. After a 
journey through New York and western New 
England he seemed to have temporary relief, and 
undertook more writing with a zeal which was 
almost desperate. Two years before, he had 
arranged with his publisher, Conrad, to bring out 
a semiannual compendium of reprinted articles 
on politics, science, art, and literature. This was 
known as The American Register or General Re- 
pository of History, Politics, and Science. It 
lived through seven volumes, from 1806 to 18 10. 
It may be found at many libraries, and evidently 
had a wide circulation for that period, and an 



314 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

influence in promoting intelligence on world- 
affairs in an age that was provincial. 

The increase of his family by two more chil- 
dren gave Brown added joy, but also anxiety, for 
he realized that his own years of life were few, 
and that he could leave no adequate income for 
his family. He disliked the phrases allied with 
death, and always spoke of the future for his 
wife in euphemisms, such as : "You must do this 
when I am asleep," or, "Remember this when I 
am absent." 32 As his physical power grew less, 
his mind seemed more alert and productive. He 
wrote until the last day of life. 

Among the many literary remains were French 
classics in translation, maps and data for a work 
on geography, architectural drawings, and the 
romantic History of Carsol, Sketches of a His- 
tory of the Carrils and Ormes included with 
Jessica and Memoirs of Stephen Calvert, in the 
memoir by Dunlap. 33 A manuscript poem, 
"L'Amoroso," which was given by his son, Wil- 
liam Linn Brown, to Frank M. Etting, Esq., is 
in the Chamberlain collection at the Boston 
Public Library. It illustrates the prevailing 
sentimentality of his writing. A portion is here 
quoted : 

32 Dunlap, Life of Brown, Vol. II, p. 188. 

33 Ibid., Vol. I, pp. 170-262. 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 315 

From pleasure's walks and market-places; 

Stilly Groves and lonely Hills; 
From gay carousals, thronging faces, 

Moonlight Glades and warbling rills ; 
From fighting fields and stormy Seas; 

From courtly pomp and war's array; 
From State turmoils and letter'd Ease; 

Come, my enamoured Soul ! away ! 
From haunts that moonstruck Fancy wooes ; 

Where Nymphs resort, and Muses roam, 
From all that vulgar dreams abuse, 

Come home, Exstatic Thought, come home ! 

The death of Brown, in February, 18 10, 
attracted very little attention in the newspapers of 
Philadelphia and New York. Brief notices 
only may be found in the journals of the day. 
Even his burial-place was not located with abso- 
lute certainty until a short time ago, when a ques- 
tion elicited the following statement from Mr. 
George Vaux : 

The interment Was in Friends' Burial Ground, Arch & 
Fourth Streets, Philadelphia, 2nd mo. 22, 1810; age thirty- 
nine years; disease, decay; Locality, row 18, Grave 16; 
District, Southern. The locality has no significance — all 
the early grave mounds in this ground were levelled about 
seventy years ago and no interments earlier than 1848 can 
be identified. 34 

Two attempts to revive an interest in Brown's 

34 See Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 
Vol. XXX, No. 118 (1906), p. 242. This fact was found in an 
original record in Friends' Library. 



316 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

personality and novels met with only limited suc- 
cess. A complete edition of his fiction was issued 
in Boston in 1827, and an edition, edited by Mr. 
David McKay, was published in Philadelphia in 
1887. During the last five years more research 
has been made for facts about his life and influ- 
ence, in accord with the general awakening to the 
historical value of such literary data. 35 There 
can be no doubt that English readers and review- 
ers showed more interest in Brown, for a century 
and a half after his death, than Americans have 
ever proclaimed. Three volumes of his fiction, 
including some tales already printed and other 
posthumous writing, were published in London 
in 1822, under the title Carwin, the Biloquist and 
Other American Tales and Pieces By Charles 
Brockden Brown, Author of Wieland, Ormond, 
Arthur Mervyn, &c. S6 

Because of this dearth of interest among 
Americans in the past, there is a special signifi- 
cance in a highly-colored article in Blackwood's 
Edinburgh Review for October, 1824, signed 
"X. Y. Z.," treating the life and writings of 
Brown. The tone is one of reproach to America 
for her indifference, until England had brought 

35 A monograph with detailed study of Brown's novels has 
been written by Martin S. Vilas (1904) ; see the Bibliography. 
36 These volumes may be found in the Library of Con- 
gress. 






V. 



CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 317 

Brown to public notice. Of the personality of the 
novelist the reviewer wrote : 

He lived in Eleventh street (we mention this for the 
information of his townsmen — not one in a thousand of 
whom knew it ; of his countrymen not one in a million of 
whom, out of ATHENS, ever would know it, but for us) 
between Walnut and Chestnut — on the eastern side — in a 
low, dirty, two-story brick house; standing a little in from 
the street, with never a tree nor a shrub near it — lately in 
the occupation of — or as a Yankee would say improved 
by an actor-man, whose name was Darling. 37 

He was a tall man — with a powerful frame — and little 
or no flesh. It was impossible to pass him in the street, 
without stopping to look at him. His pale, sallow, strange 
complexion, straight black hair — "black as death," — the mel- 
ancholy, broken-hearted look of his eyes, his altogether 
extraordinary face, — if seen once, has never been for- 
gotten. He would be met, week after week, — month after 
month, — walking to and fro in his native town, for hours 
and hours together on some unfrequented street — generally 
at a very early hour in the morning, lost in thought and 
looking like a shipwrecked man. Nobody knew him, 
nobody cared for him (till we took up his cause) he was 
only an author — yet, when we have described him, every- 
body in Philadelphia will recollect him. 

Much of this description sounds like the fig- 
ment of a modern journalist's imagination; yet 
many of the facts, are correct, and some of the 
surmises cannot easily be disproved. 

37 This account tallies with the description of Brown by- 
Sully, the artist ; see Scharf and Westcott, History of Phila- 
delphia, Vol. Ill, p. 1981. 



318 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

The novels of Brown are of historical interest 
in tracing the development of American fiction 
which followed within a few years — the work of 
Irving, Cooper, Poe, and Hawthorne. Before the 
death of Brown, the Salmagundi Papers and 
Knickerbocker History of New York had been 
published. Minor ventures in fiction had been 
made by Irving, Paulding, and their comrades. 
Irving met Brown, and was impressed by his 
patience and aspiration. He acknowledged his 
indebtedness to this early fictionist for an example 
of courage and literary purpose. The masters of 
fiction who followed Brown were able to use 
material similar to his, in fancy and character- 
delineation; but they gave to their fiction both 
reality and effectiveness. It was the lack of such 
artistic execution that reduced Brown's romances 
to extravaganzas. He had a fertile fancy but 
lacked constructive faculty. His power of imagi- 
nation was often virile, but it was never fully 
developed and trained. He produced only the 
germs of national fiction, from which there 
evolved, within a few years, such effective tale* 
as Rip Van Winkle, The Gold Bug, and Tht 
Hall of Fantasy. In both fiction and essays 01 
political and literary themes, Brown evidenced 
some originality of thought and an impulse of 
patriotism which helped to promulgate a love oi 
literature among his countrymen. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



I. GENERAL BOOKS OF REFERENCE AND 
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 

The author, in preparing this Bibliography, has included 
only the books, periodicals, letters, manuscripts, etc., which 
she has consulted by personal research or by correspondence ; 
the list is far from exhaustive, but may prove helpful for 
further studies upon these subjects. 

American Poems, Selected and Original. Anon. Litch- 
field (Connecticut). Preface is dated 1793. This was 
edited by Dr. Elihu Smith. 8vo. 

American Museum, The; or Repository of Ancient and 
Modern Fugitive Pieces. Philadelphia : Carey, 1787- 
92. 

Columbian Muse, The : A Selection of American Poetry 
from Various Authors of Established Reputation. 
Philadelphia, 1794. i2mo. 

Columbian Songster, The, and Jovial Companion. New 
York, 1797. 8vo. 

Cyclopaedia of American Literature. By Evert A. Duyc- 
kinck, New York, 1866. 

The National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Ameri- 
cans. Compiled by James B. Longacre (Philadel- 
phia), and James Herring (New York), 1835. 

Specimens of American Poetry. By Samuel Kettell. 
Boston, 1829. 121110. 3 vols. 

A Library of American Literature. By E. C. Stedman 
and E. M. Hutchinson. New York, 1900. 8vo. (Vol. 

I.) 

Illustrated Ballad History of the American Revolution. 
By Frank Moore. New York, 1870. 4to. 
321 



322 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Songs and Ballads of the Revolution. By Frank Moore. 

New York, 1856. i2mo. 
American Lands and Letters. By Donald G. Mitchell. 

New York, 1899. (Vol. I, chaps. 3 and 4.) 
A History of American Literature. By W. P. Trent. 

New York, 1903. 8vo. (Pp. 22-66.) 
The Literary History of the American Revolution, 1763- 

1783. By Moses Coit Tyler. 2 vols. New York, 1897. 

8vo. 
American Literature (1607-1885). By Charles F. Rich- 
ardson. New York, 1898. 2 vols, in 1. (Vol. I, chaps. 

1-7.) 
Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensil- 

vania. By Benjamin Franklin. Philadelphia, 1749. 

32 pp. (In library of the Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania and Boston Public Library.) 
A List of Books Written by, or Relating to Benjamin 

Franklin. Edited by Paul Leicester Ford. Brook- 
lyn, 1889. 8vo. 
The Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin. Edited and 

compiled by John Bigelow. 10 vols. New York, 

1888. Federal Edition, 1906-7. 
The Writings of Benjamin Franklin. Edited by Albert 

Henry Smyth. 9 vols. New York, 1905-6. 
Benjamin Franklin. By John Bach MacMaster. Boston, 

1887. (Chaps. 8, 9.) 
Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants 

of the British Colonies. Philadelphia, 1768; printed 

same year in Boston and London. 8vo. 
The Boston Gazette and The Country Journal, July 18, 

1768 : "A Song Now Much in Vogue in North 

America." (By John Dickinson.) 
Essays on the Constitution of the United States, 1787- 

1788. Edited by Paul Leicester Ford. Brooklyn, 

1892. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 323 

Pamphlets on the Constitution of the United States. Pub- 
lished during Its Discussion by the People, 1787- 
1788. Edited, with Notes and a Bibliography, by 
Paul Leicester Ford. Brooklyn, 1888. 

The American Nation: A History. Edited by Albert 
Bushnell Hart. New York, 1906-7. (Vols. IX, X.) 

A History of the American People. By Woodrow Wilson. 
New York, 1902. (Vol. III.) 

A History of the People of the United States, from the 
Revolution to the Civil War. By John Bach Mac- 
Master. New York, 1883. (Vol. I, chaps. 1-4.) 

History of the Republic, as Traced in the Writings of 
Alexander Hamilton and His Contemporaries. Edited 
by John C. Hamilton. New York, 1859. 

Writings of George Washington. Edited by Worthing- 
ton C. Ford. New York, 1899. 14 vols. 



II. FRANCIS HOPKINSON 

WRITINGS BY HOPKINSON 

An Exercise containing a Dialogue and Ode Sacred to 
the Memory of his Late Majesty Geo. II. Performed 
at the College of Philadelphia, May 23, 1761. The 
Ode written and set to Music by Francis Hopkinson, 
Esq. M.A. of said College. Philadelphia, 1761. 8 
pp., sq. 8vo. 

Science. A Poem by Francis Hopkinson. Dedicated to 
the Trustees and Profs, of College & Academy. Phila- 
delphia, 1762. 4to. 

Two early poems in manuscript : L'Allegro, dedicated to 
Benjamin Chew, and II Penseroso, dedicated to Rev. 
Dr. Smith. Also: An Elegy sacred to the Memory 
of Mrs. Ann Graeme, July, 1765. (These manuscripts 
are in the library of the Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania.) 



324 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Four Dissertations, on the Reciprocal Advantages of a 
Perpetual Union between Great Britain and her 
American Colonies. Written for Mr. Sargent's Prize- 
Medal. To Which (by Desire) is prefixed an Eulo- 
gium, spoken on Delivery of the Medal. Philadelphia, 
1766; London, 1766. (Hopkinson wrote one of these 
dissertations.) 

A Pretty Story Written in the Year of Our Lord 1774 by 
Peter Grievous, Esq. A.B.C.D.E. Veluti in Speculo. 
Philadelphia, 1774. 

Reprint as The Old Farm and the New Farm : A Political 
Allegory, with Introduction and Historic Notes by 
Benson J. Lossing. New York, 1857; 2d ed., 1864. 

A Prophecy. Philadelphia, 1776. 

The Pennsylvania Magazine or American Monthly Mu- 
seum. (R. Aitkin.) Philadelphia, 1775. (This con- 
tains many of Hopkinson's early writings.) 

Prose Account of the Battle of the Kegs (unsigned). In 
New Jersey Gazette, January 21, 1778. 

The Pennsylvania Packet, March 4, 1778 ("The Battle of 
the Kegs"). December 29, 1787, ("The New Roof"). 

Battle of the Kegs. A ballad broadside. (No date or 
place.) In American Antiquarian Society Library. 

Battle of the Kegs. Philadelphia : Oakwood Press, 1866. 
8vo. 

Seven Songs for the Harpsichord or Forte Piano. The 
Words and Music Composed by Francis Hopkinson. 
Philadelphia, 1788. 8vo. 

An Oration which Might have been Delivered to the Stu- 
dents in Anatomy on the Late Rupture between the 
Two Schools in this City. Philadelphia, 1789. 19 pp., 
4to. 

The Miscellaneous Essays and Occasional Writings of 
Francis Hopkinson. 3 vols. Philadelphia, 1792. 8vo. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 325 

Two manuscript volumes of "Miscellanies," owned by 
Mrs. Florence Scovel Shinn, a descendant of Hopkin- 
son. 

Five manuscript volumes of prose writings (many printed 
in "The Miscellaneous Essays," etc.), owned by the 
American Philosophical Society. 

One volume of collected writings (some in manuscript, 
some in print), made by Hopkinson, owned by the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 

Manuscript letters by Hopkinson to Jefferson in Library 
of Congress, Jefferson Papers, Series II ; also letters 
to Hopkinson, Series I. 

Manuscript letters by Francis Hopkinson to Franklin, 
owned by the American Philosophical Society; also 
letters to Hopkinson. 

Manuscript letters by Hopkinson to several men of his 
day, and to his family, owned by Mrs. Oliver Hopkin- 
son; also letters to Hopkinson by Washington, Jeffer- 
son, Robert Morris, and others. 

The American Museum; or Repository of Ancient & 
Modern Fugitive Pieces, Prose & Poetical. Philadel- 
phia : Carey. January, 1787: "On Annual White- 
washings." February, 1787: "Modern Learning 
exemplified by a Specimen of Collegiate Examination. 
By the Hon. Francis Hopkinson, esq." 

The Columbian Magazine, May, 1787 (Philadelphia). 
Design for a candle-case, etc., by Hopkinson. 

Account of the Grand Federal Procession, Philadelphia, 
July 4, 1788; to which is added a Letter on the same 
Subject. Philadelphia, 1788. 

The Pennsylvania Packet or The General Advertiser. 
Philadelphia, 1782-88. Many articles by Hopkinson, 
signed "Calamus," "Cautious," "One of the People," 
"A Lover of Candour," "F. H.," etc. 



326 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ON HOPKINSON 

The American Museum, etc. Vol. IX, Appendix, p. 38, 39. 
(Elegy by John Swanwick.) 

The Columbian Magazine, May, 1791. Philadelphia. (Obitu- 
ary and elegies.) 

The Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin. Edited by 
John Bigelow. New York, 1888. (Vol. VII, p. 294.) 

Delaplaine's Repository of the Lives and Portraits of 
Distinguished American Characters. Philadelphia, 
1815. (Vol. Ill, pp. 125-39.) 

The National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Ameri- 
cans, conducted by John B. Longacre (Philadel- 
phia) and James Herring (New York), 1835. (Vol. 
III.) 

Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. By John Sanderson. Philadelphia, 1823. (Voir 
II, pp. 187-201.) 

Historic Houses of New Jersey. By W. Jay Mills. Phila- 
delphia, 1902. (Pp. 285-89.) 

The Journals of Hugh Gaine, Printer. Edited by Paul 
Leicester Ford. New York, 1902. (Vol. I, p. 108.) 

The New York Mercury, Printed by Hugh Gaine, Book- 
seller, Printer and Stationer at the Bible & Crown, in 
Hanover Square. April 19, 1762. (Advertisement of 
new edition of "Science : A Poem.") 

The Literary History of Philadelphia. By Ellis Paxson 
Oberholtzer. Philadelphia, 1906. (Pp. 44, 56, 61, 67, 
106, 113, 114.) 

The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 
1878. (Vol. II, pp. 314-24; Sketch of Hopkinson 
by Charles R. Hildeburne.) 

Pennsylvania State Trials. Philadelphia, 1794. (Vol. I, 
edited by Edmund Hogan. The impeachment and 
trial of Francis Hopkinson, judge of the Admiralty.) 






BIBLIOGRAPHY 327 

Francis Hopkinson and James Lyon. By O. G. Sonncck. 

Washington, 1905. Large 8vo. 
Military Journal during the American Revolutionary War. 

By James Thacher. Boston, 1823. (Pp. 146-150; 

notes about Battle of the Kegs.) 
The Washington-Duche Letters. Edited by Worthington 

C. Ford. Brooklyn, 1890. 
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson. Edited by Paul L. 

Ford, New York, 1892-9. Vol. Ill, p. 495, Vol. V, 

pp. 75-8. 
Letters of John Adams Addressed to his W r ife. Edited by 

Charles Francis Adams. Boston, 1841. (Vol. I, 

pp. 156, I57-) 
The Literary History of the American Revolution. By 
Moses Coit Tyler. New York, 1897. (Vol. I, pp. 
164-71, 225, 226, 279-92; Vol. II, pp. 134-57, etc.) 



III. PHILIP FRENEAU 

WRITINGS BY PHILIP FRENEAU 

(A full bibliography of Freneau has been compiled by 
Victor Hugo Paltsits. New York, 1903.) 

Father Bumbo's Pilgrimage to Mecca in Arabia. Vol. 
II. Written by H. B. and P. F. 1770. (This is a 
manuscript quarto of 55 leaves, in the history of the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania.) 

The American Village, a Poem. To which are added, 
Several other Original Pieces in Verse. By Philip 
Freneau, A.B. New York, 1772. i2mo. 

The first printed poem by Freneau, after his commence- 
ment poem, is in an original copy in the Library of 
Congress ; also in John Carter Brown Library, Brown 
University. From the latter copy a reprint was made, 
facsimile, Providence, 1906. (Club for Colonial Re- 



328 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

prints), with an introduction by Harry Lyman Koop- 
man, and bibliographical data by Victor Hugo Paltsits. 

A Poem on the Rising Glory of America : Being an Exer- 
cise Delivered at the Public Commencement at Nas- 
sau-Hall, September 25, 1771. Philadelphia: Aitkin, 
1772. i2mo. (Copies of this poem are in the Li- 
brary of Congress, the Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
vania, Lenox Library, New York Historical Society, 
and Massachusetts Historical Society. The manu- 
script is in Princeton University Library.) 

American Liberty. A Poem. New York, 1775. i2mo. 

The Last Words, Dying Speech and Confession of J — s 
R — g — n, P — t — r. (Broadside in Lenox Library. Mr. 
Paltsits says "in the style of Freneau's earlier verse, 
and perhaps by him" [Bibliography of Freneau].) 

General Gage's Soliloquy. New York: Hugh Gaine, 
1775. (Manuscript copy in the Library Company of 
Philadelphia. For further notes see Bibliography of 
Freneau by Paltsits, p. 28.) 

A Voyage to Boston. A Poem. By the Author of Ameri- 
can Liberty, a Poem. New York: Anderson. i2mo. 

A Voyage to Boston. A Poem. By the Author of 
American Liberty, a Poem, Gen. Gage's Soliloquy, &c. 
Philadelphia : Woodhouse, 1775. i2mo. (At American 
Antiquarian Society, Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
vania.) 

General Gage's Confession: Being the Substance of His 
Excellency's last Conference, With his Ghostly 
Father, Friar Francis. By the Author of the Voyage 
to Boston. Printed in the Year, 1775 (Gaine). Small 
8vo. 

American Independence, an everlasting Deliverance from 
British Tyranny: a Poem- Philadelphia, 1778. i2mo. 
(This poem "By Philip F , Author of the 






BIBLIOGRAPHY 



329 



American Village, Voyage to Boston, &c," is found in 
the library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 
in The Travels of the Imagination, pp. 113-26.) 

The British Prison-Ship: A Poem, in four Cantos. Phila- 
delphia: Bailey, 1791. i2mo. (Found at Brown 
University, Library Company of Philadelphia.) 

A Journey from Philadelphia to New York, by Way of 
Burlington and South-Amboy. By Robert Slender, 
Stocking Weaver. Philadelphia: Bailey, 1787. i2mo. 
(This edition is in the library of Brown University, 
Library of Congress, and New York Historical So- 
ciety. Another edition, entitled, A Laughable Poem; 
or Robert. Slender's Journey, etc. By Philip Freneau, 
[Philadelphia: Neversink, 1809. i2mo], is in the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Library Company 
of Philadelphia, and Brown University.) 

The Village Merchant : A Poem. To which is added The 
Country Printer. Philadelphia, 1794. Small 8vo. 
(Copies in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and 
Brown University.) 

The Poems of Philip Freneau. Written chiefly during the 
late War. Philadelphia, 1786. Small 8vo. 

The Miscellaneous Works of Mr. Philip Freneau contain- 
ing his Essays, and additional Poems. Philadelphia, 
1788. Small i2mo. 

Poems written between the years 1768 & 1794. By Philip 
Freneau of New Jersey. A New Edition. Revised 
and Corrected by the Author. Monmouth (N. J.). 
Printed at the Press of the Author, at Mount-Pleas- 
ant, near Middetown-Point, MDCQXCV; and, of 
American Independence, XIX. (Fifteen stars in 
pyramid.) 8vo. 

Letters on Various interesting and important Subjects, 
many of which have appeared in the AURORA. By 



33° HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Robert Slender, O.S.M. Philadelphia: Hogan. De- 
cember 30, 1799. i2mo. 

Poems written and published during the American Revo- 
lutionary War, and now republished from the original 
Manuscripts ; interspersed with Translations from the 
Ancients, and other Pieces not heretofore in Print. 
By Philip Freneau. Philadelphia : Lydia Bailey, 1809. 
2 vols. i2mo. 

A Collection of Poems, on American Affairs, and a variety 
of other Subjects, chiefly moral and political; writ- 
ten between the Year 1797 and the present Time. By 
Philip Freneau. New York, 1815. Longworth. 2 
vols. Small i2mo. 

Poems on various Subjects, but chiefly illustrative of the 
Events and Actors in the American War of Inde- 
pendence. By Philip Freneau. London: Smith, 1861. 
Small 8vo. Reprint of 1786 edition. 

Poems relating to the American Revolution. By Philip 
Freneau. New York, 1865. i2mo and royal 8vo. 
(Memoir and notes by Duyckinck.) 

Some Account of the Capture of the Ship Aurora. New 
York, 1899. 8vo. (Reprinted from manuscript.) 

The Poems of Philip Freneau. Edited by Fred L. Pattee. 
Princeton, N. J., 1902-7. 3 vols. 

NEWSPAPERS AND JOURNALS WHICH FRENEAU EDITED OR TO 
WHICH HE CONTRIBUTED 

The Freeman's Journal; or, The North-American Intelli- 
gencer. Published by Francis Bailey. Philadelphia. 
Weekly newspaper. (Freneau's verse and occasional 
essays from 1781 to 1789. Files in Philadelphia Library 
Company, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Lenox 
Library, Library of Congress, American Antiquarian 
Society.) 






BIBLIOGRAPHY 331 

National Gazette. Edited by Freneau. Philadelphia, Oc- 
tober 3, 1791, to October 26, 1793. Semi-weekly. 

Jersey Chronicle. Edited by Freneau. Mount-Pleasant 
(Monmouth), May 2, 1795, to April 30, 1796. (File at 
New York Historical Society; scattered numbers at 
American Antiquarian Society and elsewhere.) 

The Time-Piece; and Literary Companion. Edited by Fre- 
neau. New York, March 1797, to March, 1798. Tri- 
weekly. 

The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser. Phila- 
delphia. (Many poems by Freneau from 1782 to 
1788.) 

The United States Magazine: A Repository of History, 
Politics and Literature. Vol. I, for the year 1779. 
Edited by H. H. Brackenridge. Philadelphia. (Many 
contributions by Freneau.) 

The American Museum, Vol. I, p. yy (January, 1787. 
Under "Original Poetry," attributed to Freneau, is 
"The Death-Song of the Cherokee Indian.") 

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ON FRENEAU 

A Bibliography of the Separate and Collected Works of 
Philip Freneau, Together with an Account of His 
Newspapers. By Victor Hugo Paltsits. New York, 
1903. 

Philip Freneau: The Poet of the Revolution. A History 
of His Life and Times. By Mary S. Austin. Edited 
by Helen Kearny Vreeland. New York, 1901. 

The Political Activities of Philip Freneau. By Samuel E. 
Forman, Ph.D. The Johns Hopkins University 
Studies, in Historical and Political Science. Series 
XX, Nos. 9, 10. Baltimore, 1902. 

Obituary Notices of Freneau in: 
The Monmouth Inquirer, December 19, 1832. 



S3 2 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

The New York Evening Post, December 27, 1832. 
The New York Spectator, December 31, 1832. 
The New York Mirror, January 12, 1833. 
Philip Freneau : The Huguenot Patriot-Poet of the Revo- 
lution. By Edward F. DeLancey. New York, 1898. 

Also in Proceedings of the Huguenot Society, Vol. 

II, No. 2. 
The Memorial History of the City of New York. By 

James Grant Wilson. New York, 1893. 4 vols. 

(Several references in Vols. II, III, and IV.) 
Writings of Thomas Jefferson. Edited by Paul Leicester 

Ford. (Vol. I, p. 231; Vol. V, pp. 330, 336; Vol. VI, 

pp. 101-9, 134, 328, 438, 443.) 
Jefferson Papers, Series I and II. Manuscript in Library 

of Congress. 
Madison Papers. Library of Congress. 
The Character of Thomas Jefferson as Exhibited in His 

Own Writings. By Theodore Dwight. New York, 

1839. (Pp. 129-49.) 
The Literary History of Philadelphia. By Ellis Paxson 

Oberholtzer. Philadelphia, 1906, pp. 115-29. 
The Journals of Hugh Gaine, Printer. Edited by Paul 

Leicester Ford. New York, 1902. (Vol. I, pp. 9, 34, 

55, 63, 73, 138.) 
Manuscript Letters by and about Philip Freneau. In 

Pickering Papers, in Massachusetts Historical Society. 

(Vols. XXIX and LV.) 
The Issues of the Press of Pennsylvania, 1685-1785. By 

Charles R. Hildeburne. Philadelphia, 1885. (Vol. II, 

p. 148.) 
Historic Houses of New Jersey. By W. Jay Mills. Phila- 
delphia, 1902. (Pp. 75, 145, 180, 195.) 
History of the College of New Jersey, from Its Origin in 

1746 to the Commencement of 1854. By John Mac- 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 333 

Lean. Philadelphia, 1877. (Vol. I, chap. 15, pp. 309- 

22.) 
A History of Journalism in the United States from 1690 

to 1872. By Frederic Hudson. New York, 1873. 

(Pp. 103, in, 134-36, 175, 185-87) 
Narrative of a Journey down the Ohio and Mississippi in 

1 789-1 790, by Major Samuel S. Forman. (With a 

Memoir and Illustrative Notes.) By Lyman C. Dra- 
per. Cincinnati, 1888. (Pp. 9-11.) 
The Southern Literary Messenger. (Vol. VIII, No. 1, 

pp. 2, 3. Note about commencement poem written 

with Brackenridge.) 
Personal Memoirs and Recollections of Editorial Life. By 

Joseph T. Buckingham. Boston, 1852. (Vol. II, pp. 

137-46.) 
American Poems. Litchfield, 1793. (Scattered poems.) 
The Literary History of the American Revolution. By 

Moses Coit Tyler. New York, 1897. (Vol. I, pp. 

171-83; 413-25; Vol. II, pp. 249-76.) 
Magazine of American History. Vol. XVII, 1887, pp. 120-7. 



IV. JOHN TRUMBULL 

WRITINGS BY JOHN TRUMBULL 

An Essay on the Use and Advantages of the Fine Arts; 
Delivered at the Public Commencement in New Haven, 
Sept. 12, 1770. New Haven, 1770. Pp. 16. 8vo. 
(Copies of this essay are in the libraries of Yale Uni- 
versity, Massachusetts Historical Society, Library of 
Congress, and Watkinson Library, Hartford.) 

The Progress of Dulness, Part First : or the Rare Ad- 
ventures of Tom Brainless; Printed in the Year 1772. 
New Haven. Pp. 19. 8vo. (Second edition, New 
Haven, 1773. Pp. 20. 8vo.) 



334 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

The Progress of Dulness, Part Second: or An Essay on 
the Life and Character of Dick Hairbrain. New 
Haven, 1773. Pp. 27. 8vo. 

The Progress of Dulness, Part Third; or the The Ad- 
ventures of Miss Harriet Simple. New Haven, 1773. 
Pp. 28. 8vo. 

The Progress of Dulness : or the Rare Adventures of Tom 
Brainless. By the celebrated author of McFINGAL. 
Exeter, 1794. Pp. "]2. i6mo. (3 parts.) 

M'Fingal : A Modern Epic Poem. Canto First, or The 
Town-Meeting. 'Philadelphia. Printed and Sold by 
William and Thomas Bradford, at the London Coffee- 
House, 1775. i6mo. 

M'Fingal: A Modern Epic Poem. Cantos First and 
Second. The Town-Meeting. Hartford, Philadelphia, 
and Boston, 1776; London, 1776. i6mo. 

M'Fingal : A Modern Epic Poem, in Four Cantos. Hart- 
ford, 1782. Pp. 100. 8vo. (This first edition was 
printed by Hudson & Goodwin. Two other editions 
appeared in Hartford the same year; one printed by 
Nathaniel Patten; the other, by Bavil Webster.) 

Later editions of M'Fingal, to be found in the Watkin- 
son Library of Hartford, the Boston Public Library, the 
Lenox Library, Brown University, Massachusetts Histori- 
cal Society, and the Library of Congress, are : 

M'Fingal : A Modern Epic Poem, in Four Cantos. Phila- 
delphia, 1791. Pp. 95. i2mo. 

M'Fingal: A Modern Epic Poem. London: (Jordan), 
1792. Pp. 142. 8vo. 

M'Fingal : A Modern Epic Poem ; Embellished with Nine 
Copper plates; designed and engraved by E. Tisdale. 
The first edition with plates and explanatory notes. 
New York, 1795. Pp. 136. 8vo. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 335 

M'Fingal : With explanatory notes. Boston, 1799. i6mo. 
M'Fingal : A Modern Epic Poem. Baltimore, 1812. Pp. 

146. 241110. 
M'Fingal, etc., Albany, 1813. Hallowell, 1813; Boston, 

1826. Philadelphia, 1839. 
M'Fingal : A Modern Poem. With Notes by Benson J. 

Lossing. New York, 1864. i6mo. 
M'Fingal, etc. New York, 1857, i860, 1881. 
An Elegy on the Times : First Printed at Boston, Sept. 
20th, A.D. 1774. Reprinted New Haven, 1775. Pp. 15. 
8vo. 
The Poetical Works of John Trumbull, LL.D., containing 
M'Fingal, a Modern Epic Poem, revised and cor- 
rected, with copious explanatory notes : The Progress 
of Dulness; and a Collection of Poems on Various 
Subjects written before and during the Revolutionary 
War. Hartford, 1820. Printed for Samuel G. Good- 
rich, by Lincoln & Stone. 2 vols. 8vo. 
Selected poems by Trumbull may be found in : 
American Poems; Selected and Original (1793). Litch- 
field. (Edited by Dr. Elihu Smith.) 
The Poets of Connecticut. By Rev. Charles W. Ever- 
est. Hartford, 1843. 
Specimens of American Poetry. By Samuel Kettell. 

Boston, 1829. Vols I, II. 
Early essays by Trumbull may be found in : 

Boston Chronicle, September, 1769, to January, 1770. 
("The Meddler" and "The Schemer." A large 
number of these essays were by him.) 
Connecticut Journal, February to July, 1770. ("The 

Correspondent.") 
Connecticut Courant and Weekly Intelligencer, August 7 
and 14, 1775. (Parodies in verse on General Gage's 
proclamations.) 



336 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ON TRUMBULL 

Federalism Triumphant in the Steady Habits of Con- 
necticut Alone, or, the Turnpike Road to a Fortune. A 
Comic Opera, or Political Farce in Six Acts, as performed 
at the Theatres Royal and Aristocratic at Hartford and 
New Haven, October, 1801. Printed in the Year, 1802. 
(no place.) Trumbull is one of the characters. 

Connecticut Journal, September 30, 1770. (Reference to 
his Essay on the Fine Arts.) 

The Origin of M'Fingal. By J. Hammond Trumbull. 
Historical Magazine, January, 1868. 

Memorial History of Hartford County, 1633-1884. 
By J. Hammond Trumbull, LL.D. Boston, 1886. 2 
vols. (Several references.) 

The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the 
Aboriginal Period to the Year Eighteen Hundred 
and Ninety-Five. Edited by Joseph Anderson, D.D. 
New Haven, 1896. (Vol. I, pp. 326-29; Vol. II, pp. 
9, 546; Vol. Ill, pp. 923-26.) 

Brinton Eliot; From Yale to Yorktown. By James 
Eugene Farmer. New York, 1902. (Chap. 7.) 

The Literary History of the American Revolution. By 
Tyler. New York, 1897. (Vol. I, pp. 188-221, 427-50.) 

List of Books Printed in Connecticut from 1709 to 1800. 
By James Hammond Trumbull, LL.D., L.H.D. 1904. 
(Acorn Club.) 

Letters among Oliver Wolcott, Jr., Papers, at Connecti- 
cut Historical Society. 

Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College, 
with Annals of the College History. By Franklin B. 
Dexter. New York. Third Series, 1903, pp. 251-7, etc. 






BIBLIOGRAPHY 337 

V. THE "HARTFORD WITS" 

WRITINGS BY AND ABOUT THE "HARTFORD WITS" 

The New Haven Gazette and the Connecticut Magazine, 
October 19, 1786, to February 5, 1787. ("The Ameri- 
can Antiquities," later collected as 'The Anarchiad.") 

The Anarchiad. A New England Poem. Written in con- 
cert by David Humphreys, Joel Barlow, John Trum- 
bull, and Dr. Lemuel Hopkins. Now first published 
in book form. Edited, with notes and appendices, 
by Luther G. Riggs, New Haven, 1861. Pp. 120. 
24m o. 

The American Mercury, Printed by Elisha Babcock. 
Hartford. August 8, 1791, to March 12, 1792. 
(Numbers of "The Echo.") 

The Echo with Other Poems. Printed at the Porcupine 
Press by Pasquin Petronius. New York, 1807. 8vo. 
(The printer was Isaac Riley.) 

The Political Green-House for the Year 1798. Addressed 
to the Readers of the Connecticut Courant, January 
1st, 1799. Hartford, no date. (Written by Theodore 
Dwight, Richard Alsop, and Lemuel Hopkins. Small 
8vo. Included in "Echo," pp. 233-59.) 

Guillotina for 1797. Addressed to the Readers of the 
Connecticut Courant. Hartford, January 1, 1797. (A 
broadside, unidentified, in Connecticut Historic* 
Society.) 

The Democratiad. A Poem in Retaliation, for the Phila- 
delphia Jockey Club. By a Gentleman of Connecti- 
cut. Philadelphia, 1795. Pp. 22. 8vo. (In "The 
Echo," pp. 127-40; supposed to be by Dr. Hopkins.) 

The Guillotina, or a Democratic Dirge: A Poem. By 
the Author of Democratiad. Philadelphia. Pp. 14. 
8vo. (Probably by Hopkins.) 






338 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

The last two pamphlets may be found at the Connecticut 
Historical Society, Lenox Library, and Library of 
Congress. 

Aristocracy; an Epic Poem by De Bellare Superbos. Bk. 
I. Philadelphia, 1795. (At Library of Congress cata- 
logued as Richard Alsop's [?].) 

The Poets of Connecticut. By Rev. Charles W. Everest. 
Hartford, 1843. 8vo. 

A Sketch of the History of Yale College. By William 
L. Kingsley. Boston, 1835. (Vol. I.) 

List of Books Printed in Connecticut from 1709 to 1800. 
By James Hammond Trumbull, LL.D., L.H.D., 1904. 
(Acorn Club.) 

American Poems; Selected and Original. Litchfield, 

I793- 
Atlantic Monthly, Vol. XX, 1865, pp. 187-201. The New 
Englander, January, 1882. 

WRITINGS BY AND ABOUT JOEL BARLOW 

The Prospect of Peace, a Poetical Composition delivered 
in Yale College, at the Public Examination, July 23, 
1778. New Haven, 1788. Pp. 12. 8vo. 

The Vision of Columbus ; a Poem w Nine Books. Hart- 
ford, 1787. Pp. 258. 8vo. (2d ed. Hartford, 1787; 
i2mo.) 

Conspiracy of Kings. London, 1792; Paris, 1793. Pp. 32. 
4to. 

Advice to the Privileged Orders in Several States of 
Europe. Part I. Pp. 156. 8vo. London (2d ed.), 
1792-93. 

Hasty Pudding; a Poem. In three cantos. Written at 
Chambery, in Savoy, January 1, 1793. New Haven, 
1796; Salem, 1799; Albany, 1807; Boston, 1810. Pp. 
16. 8vo. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 339 

Joel Barlow to his Fellow Citizens of the United States 
of America. Paris, 1799. Pp. 27. 8vo. 

The Political Writings of Joel Barlow: A new edition. 
New York, 1796. Pp. 258. i6mo. 

The Columbiad. A Poem by Joel Barlow. Philadelphia, 
1807; Philadelphia, 1809; London, 1809; Paris, 1813; 
Washington, 1825. Pp. 454. 8vo. 

Critical Observations on the Poem of Joel Barlow, The 
Columbiad. By M. Gregoire. Reply by Joel Barlow. 
Washington City, 1809. (This last, as well as other 
writings mentioned, is in the Library of Congress.) 

Life and Letters of Joel Barlow; Poet, Statesman, Phi- 
losopher. By Charles B. Todd. New York, 1886. 

Three Men of Letters. By Moses Coit Tyler. New 
York, 1895. 

Manuscript letters to Oliver Wolcott, Jr., in folio at Con- 
necticut Historical Society. 

Manuscript letters to wife and friends ; also an unfinished 
poem, "The Canal;" at Pequot Library, Southport, 
Conn. 

Memorial History of Hartford County. By J. Hammond 
Trumbull. New Haven, 1886. (Several references 
to Barlow and the other "wits.") 

WRITINGS OF DAVID HUMPHREYS 

The Miscellaneous Works of David Humphreys, Late 
Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of 
America to the Court of Madrid. New York, 1804. 
8vo. 

Miscellaneous Works, etc., (containing Poems and Life 
of Israel Putnam). New York, 1790. (In this vol- 
ume is the play, "The Widow of Malabar," which 
was not included in the Miscellaneous Works, 1804.) 






- 340 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

A Poem addressed to the Armies of the United States of 
America. By a Gentleman of the Army. New Haven, 
1780. Pp. 16. 8vo. Reprinted, New Haven, 1785; 
Paris, 1786 as — Discours en vers, addresse aux 
officiers et aux soldats des differentes armees ameri- 
caines. Paris, 1786. 

A Poem on the Happiness of America; addressed to the 
Citizens of the United States by David Humphreys, 
LL.D. London, 1786; Hartford, 1786. Pp. 51. 4to. 

An Essay on the Life of the Honourable Major-General 
Israel Putnam; addressed to the State Society of the 
Cincinnati in Connecticut. Hartford, 1788; Middle 
town, 1794; Philadelphia, 1798; Boston, 1818. i2mo. 

Life and Exploits of Israel Putnam. New York, 1834. 
24mo. 

Memoirs of the life, adventures & military exploits of 
Israel Putnam, Senior Major-general in the Revolu- 
tionary army of the United States, and next in rank 
to Gen. Washington (by David Humphreys). New 
York: Duyckinck, 1815. Pp. 108. 241110. 

A Poem on Industry; addressed to the Citizens of the 
United States of America. By Col. David Hum- 
phreys, Minister Resident at the Court of Lisbon. 
Philadelphia, 1794. 8vo. 

Valedictory Discourse delivered before the Cincinnati of 
Connecticut, in Hartford, July 4, 1804, at the Disso- 
lution of the Society. By Col. David Humphreys. 

Letters from the Hon. David Humphreys, F.R.S. to the 
Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal So- 
ciety, London, containing some ACCOUNT of the 
SERPENT of the OCEAN, frequently seen in 
Gloucester Bay. New York, 181 7. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 341 

The Yankey in England, a Drama, in Five Acts. By 
General Humphreys. (No date, nor place, but the 
preface signed D. Humphreys, Humphreysville, Sept. 
1, 1815.) A copy is in Boston Athenaeum. 

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ON DAVID HUMPHREYS 

Yale and Her Honor-Roll in the American Revolution, 

1775-1783. By Henry P. Johnston. New York, 1888. 
Seymour; Past and Present. By Rev. Hollis A. Campbell, 

William C. Sharpe, and Frank G. Basset, Seymour, 

1902. 
Chapter Sketches, Connecticut D. A. R. Edited by Mary 

Philotheta Root. New Haven. (1900.) 
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson. Edited by Paul L. 

Ford. (Vol. I, pp. 216, 22,3', Vol. IX, p. 225, 226.) 
The Writings of Washington. Collected and edited by 

Worthington C. Ford, New York, 1891. (Vol. X, pp. 

473, 474-) 
The Veil Removed; or, Reflections on Humphrey's Essay 

on the Life of Putnam. By John Fellows. New 

York, 1843. 
Manuscript letters in Pickering Papers. Vol. XXI. 

(Massachusetts Historical Society.) 

WRITINGS BY AND ABOUT THEODORE DWIGHT 

An Oration before the Connecticut Society for the Promo- 
tion of Freedom convened at Hartford, May 8, 
1794. Hartford, 1794. Pp. 24. 8vo. 

An Oration spoken at Hartford, July 4th, 1798. Hartford, 
1798. Pp. 31. 8vo. 

The Triumph of Democracy, a Poem. January 1, 1801. 
(No name nor place; in "The Echo," pp. 267-82.) 

History of the Hartford Convention with a Review of 
the Policy of the United States Government which led 
to the War of 1812. New York, 1833. 8vo. 



342 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

The Character of Thomas Jefferson as Exhibited in his 

Own Writings. Boston, 1839. i2mo. 
Memorial History of Hartford County. By J. Hammond 

Trumbull, LL.D. Boston, 1886. (Vol. I, pp. 124, 157, 

160, 385, 516, 612.) 

WRITINGS BY AND ABOUT RICHARD ALS0P 

To the Freemen of the State of Connecticut. (Anon., 
no place; 1803. In copy at Massachusetts Historical 
Society, a note is written in ink, "By Richard Alsop; 
Middletown, Sept. 12, 1803.") 
The Charms of Fancy. A Poem in Four Cantos. 
Edited from the original manuscript by Theodore 
Dwight. New York, 1856. Pp. 214. 8vo. 
A Poem Sacred to the Memory of George Washington, 
Late President of the United States and Commander- 
in-Chief of the Armies of the United States, by 
Richard Alsop. Hartford, 1800. Pp. 23. 8vo. 
Verses to a Shearwater, in Specimens of American Poetry. 

By Samuel Kettell. (Vol. II, p. 60.) 
Runic translation; Twilight of the Gods, in American 

Poems; Selected and Original (1793). Pp. 265-272. 
Translations : 

The Enchanted Lake of the Fairy Morgana. From the 
Orlando Inamorata of Francisco Berni. New 
York, 1806. 8vo. 
An Appendix to the Civil and Political History of Chili; 
translated from Juan Ignacio Molina. New York, 
1808. 8vo. 
Selections in The Poets of Connecticut. By Rev. Charles 

W. Everest. 1843. (Pp. 73-91.) 
Manuscript letter to Dr. Mason Cogswell about The Echo, 
at Connecticut Historical Society, in John Trum- 
bull's copy of The Echo. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 343 

Possibly the author of Aristocracy, an Epic Poem by De 
Bellare Superbos. Philadelphia, 1795. 

WRITINGS BY AND ABOUT LEMUEL HOPKINS 

The Democratiad. A Poem in Retaliation, for the Phila- 
delphia Jockey Club. By a Gentleman of Connecti- 
cut. Philadelphia, 1795. Pp. 22. 8vo. (Reprinted in 
The Echo.) 

The Guillotina, or a Democratic Dirge. A Poem. By 
the Author of Democratiad. Philadelphia. Pp. 14. 
(Reprinted in The Echo.) 

New Year's Verses, For the Connecticut Courant, January 
1, 1795. Hartford, 1795. (Reprinted in The Echo.) 

Specimens of American Poetry. By Samuel Kettell. (Vol. 
I, pp. 272-83.) 

The Poets of Connecticut. By Charles W. Everest. 1843. 
(Pp. 51-58.) 

American Medical Biography; or, Memoirs of Eminent 
Physicians. By James Thacher, M.D. Boston, 1828. 
(Vol. I, pp. 298-306.) 

Manuscript letters to Oliver Wolcott, Jr., at Connecticut 
Historical Society. 

The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the 
Aboriginal Period to the Year Eighteen Hundred and 
Ninety-Five. Edited by Joseph Anderson, D.D. New 
Haven, 1896. 3 vols. (Many references to Hopkins.) 

Memorial History of Hartford County. By J. Hammond 
Trumbull, LL.D. Boston, 1886. Vol. I, pp. 139-58. 



VI. JOSEPH DENNIE 

WRITINGS BY DENNIE 

The Lay Preacher; or Short Sermons for Idle Readers. 
Walpole (N. H.), 1796. Pp. 132. i6mo. 



344 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

The Spirit of the Farmer's Museum and Lay Preacher's 
Gazette. Walpole. Carlyle, printer for Thomas & 
Thomas. 1801. Pp. 318. i2mo. 

The Lay Preacher, collected and arranged by John E. 
Hall, Esq. Counsellor at Law. Published at Phila- 
delphia by Harrison Hall, at the Portfolio Office, 1817. 
Pp. 168. i6mo. 

New and Original Essays by Joseph Dennie. Philadelphia, 
1818. (Only one in the series appeared, so far as 
known.) 

The New Hampshire Journal; or The Farmer's Weekly 
Museum. Walpole, 1793-97. (Contributions by Den- 
nie during these years. Some later issues were en- 
titled The Farmer's Museum: New Hampshire & 
Vermont Journal, 1797-1810.) 

The Tablet: A Miscellaneous Paper devoted to the 
Belles-Lettres. (Edited by Dennie.) Boston. 4to. 
May 19, 1795, to August 11, 1795. (No more issued.) 

The Port Folio by Oliver Oldschool. Philadelphia. 1801- 
12. (Started and edited by Dennie.) Weekly, 1801-8; 
monthly 1809-12. (The journal continued in vari- 
ous forms until 1827; published by Maxwell; 4to of 
8 pages as weekly.) 

Two letters from Dennie to Hon. Jeremiah Mason. 

Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, 

March, 1880, Vol. XVII, pp. 362-65.) 
Letters by Dennie to Timothy Pickering, in Pickering 

Papers (Massachusetts Historical Society, Vol. X, 

XIII, XXIV.) 

/ Letters and manuscript, in Adams Papers, from Dennie to 
John Quincy Adams. (In the possession of Charles 
Francis Adams.) 



V 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 345 

CRITICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL ON DENNIE 

Sketch of Dennie. [By Colonel W. W. Clapp.] Cam- 
bridge, 1880. 8vo. 

The Philadelphia Souvenir: A Collection of Fugitive 
Pieces from The Philadelphia Press, with Biographi- 
cal and Explanatory Notes by J. E. Hall. Philadel- 
phia, 1826. (Pp. 70-136.) 

Walpole as It Was and as It Is, containing the Complete 
Civil History of the Town from 1749 to 1879. By 
George Aldrich. Claremont, N. H., 1880. (Pp. 74-82.) 

History of Philadelphia. By Scharf and Westcott. Phila- 
delphia, 1884. (Vol. I, pp. 508, 509; Vol. Ill, p. 1979.) 

The Literary History of Philadelphia. By Ellis Paxson 
Oberholtzer. Philadelphia, 1906. (Pp. 168-83, 189, 
264.) 

Memoirs, Journal and Correspondence of Thomas Moore. 
Edited by Lord John Russell. London, 1856. (Vari- 
ous passing references in Vols. I, II, III, IV, V, VI, 
VII, VIII.) 

Poetical Works of Thomas Moore. Leipzig, 1842. (Col- 
lected and annotated by himself. Vol. I, references 
in Preface and notes.) 

Life of Josiah Quincy by His Son, Edmund Quincy. Bos- 
ton, 1867. (Pp. 30-33-) 

Memoirs of John Quincy Adams. Edited by Charles 
Francis Adams. Philadelphia, 1877. (Vol. I, p. 240; 
Vol. IX, p. 239.) 

Personal Memoirs, Anecdotes and Reminiscences. By J. T. 
Buckingham. Boston, 1850, 1852. Vol. II, pp. 175-90, 
195-202, 226.) Some editions have title, Specimens of 
Newspaper Literature, with Memoirs, etc. 

A History of Journalism in the United States from 1690 to 
1872. By Frederic Hudson. New York, 1873. (Vol. 
II, pp. 51-64, 708-18.) 



346 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

The New Englander Galaxy, July 24, 1818. (Anecdote of 

Dennie's law-experience as given by Royall Tyler.) 
Benjamin's Collector, February, 1896; article by Charles 

Henry Hart. (Two letters from Moore to J. E. Hall, 

with many references to Dennie.) 
The Critic, June, 1888. (Two Letters from Moore to 

Dennie.) 
New England Magazine, August, 1896. ("Damon and 

Pythias among our Early Journalists.") 
Curiosities of Literature. By D'Israeli and Griswold. New 

York, 1848. (Pp. si, 52.) 
Magazine of American History, Vol. XVII, 1887. Pp. 117, 

118. 
The Historical Magazine, December, 1857, p. 379. Rufus 

Griswold's reference to Dennie's portrait. 
American Historical and Literary Curiosities. Collected 

and edited by J. Jay Smith and John F. Watson. New 

York, 1850. Plate XLI. (Letter and song sent by 

Moore to Dennie.) 



VII. WILLIAM DUNLAP 

WRITINGS BY DUNLAP 

Complete lists of Dunlap's plays may be found in: 

Second edition of Early American Plays by Oscar 
Wegelin, with Introduction by John Malone. New 
York, 1905. The first edition, 1900, has only a 
partial list. 
Introduction to The Father, or American Shandyism, 
reprinted by the Dunlap Society. New York, 1887. 
(Pp. x, xi.) 
The following are some of Dunlap's most representa- 
tive plays, to be found generally at libraries with a collec- 
tion of Americana: 






BIBLIOGRAPHY 347 

The Father, or American Shandyism. A Comedy in five 
acts. Written by a Citizen of New York. New York, 
1789. 8vo. Reprint of the above by the Dunlap So- 
ciety, New York, 1887. Introduction by Thomas J. 
McKee. The same play was printed later as The 
Father of an Only Child, by William Dunlap. New 
York, 1807. i2mo. 

Darby's Return: a Comic Sketch. New York, 1789. 

Darby's Return, an Interlude. New York, 1806. 8vo. 

The Archers, or Mountaineers of Switzerland, an Opera, 
in Three Acts, by an American. New York, 1796. 
8vo. 

Tell Truth and Shame the Devil; a comedy in 2 acts, as 
performed by the old American Company, New York, 
1797. 

Andre: A Tragedy in Five Acts. New York, 1798. 
Reprint of this edition by the Dunlap Society, New 
York, 1887; Introduction by J. Brander Matthews.) 

Andre : A Tragedy in Five Acts ; To which are added Au- 
thentic Documents respecting Major Andre, Consisting 
of letters to Miss Seward, The Cow Chase; a Satiri- 
cal poem by Major John Andre; with the proceedings 
of court martial. New York: Swords, 1798. Lon- 
don, 1799. 

False Shame, or The American Orphan in Germany. A 
Comedy in Four acts, translated from the German of 
Kotzebue. New York, 1800; Charleston, 1800. i2mo. 

Abaellino; the Great Bandit. Translated from the Ger- 
man of Tschokke and adapted to the New York 
Theatre. New York, 1802; Boston and New York, 
1803. i2mo. 

Ribbemont, or the Feudal Baron. A Tragedy in Five 
Acts. New York, 1803. i8mo. 



348 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

The Glory of Columbia; her Yoemanry. A Play in Five 
Acts. The Songs, Duets, and Choruses, intended for 
the celebration of the Fourth of July at the New 
York Theatre. New York, 1803, 1817. i2tno. 

The Voice of Nature; A Drama in 3 Acts from French 
Melodrama, Le Jugement de Salomon. New York, 
1803. i8mo. 

Blue Beard; or Female Curiosity; a dramatic romance in 
three acts, as altered for the New York Theatre, with 
additional songs, by William Dunlap. New York, 
1803, 1806. i8mo. 

Lord Leicester; a Tragedy. New York, 1807. i6mo. 

Fontaineville Abbey. A Tragedy. New York, 1807. i8mo. 

The Blind Boy; a Melodrama as performed at the 
Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. London, 1808; New 
York, 1808. i2mo. (Altered from Kotzebue's Epi- 
gram.) 

Rinaldo Rinaldini, or the Great Banditti, New York, 1810. 

The Africans or War, Love and Duty. Philadelphia, 181 1; 
Hartford, 1814. 

Yankee Chronology: a musical interlude in one Act to 
which is added Patriotic Songs of the Freedom of 
the Seas & Yankee Tars. New York, 1812. i6mo. 

Yankee Chronology or Huzza for the American Navy. 
(Broadside, 1813-14.) In American Antiquarian 
Society. 

The Italian Father; a comedy in Five Acts. New York, 
1810. 

Lover's Vows, a play in five acts. New York, 1814. i2mo. 
(From the German of Kotzebue.) 

A Trip to Niagara, or Travellers in America. A Farce in 
Three Acts written for the Bowery Theatre, N. Y. 
By William Dunlap, Historical and Portrait Painter; 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 349 

author of Memoirs of G. F. Cooke, C. B. Brown, 
Father of an Only Child, etc. New York, 1830. i8mo. 

Ella : a Norwegian Tale, in American Poems, Litchfield, 
(1793), PP- 226-31. 

Memoirs of George Fred Cooke, Esq., Late of the 
Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, by William Dunlap, 
Esq. London, 1813. 2 vols. 

The Life of Charles Brockden Brown, together with Se- 
lections from the Rarest of his Printed Works, from 
His Original Letters, and from his Manuscripts Be- 
fore Unpublished. By William Dunlap. In two vol- 
umes. Philadelphia, 1815. 

Thirty Years Ago; or, Memoirs of a Water Drinker. 
New York, 1836. 2 vols. 

A History of the American Theatre by William Dunlap, 
Vice-President of the National Academy of Design, 
Author of Memoirs of George Fred Cooke, C. B. 
Brown, etc. New York, 1832. 

History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design 
in the United States; by William Dunlap. New York, 
1834. 2 vols. 

A History of New York for Schools, by William Dun- 
lap. In two volumes. New York, 1837. i6mo. 

History of the New Netherlands, Province of New 
York and State of New York, to Adoption of the 
Federal Constitution; by William Dunlap. In two 
volumes. New York, 1839. 

Four volumes of manuscript journals, in New York His- 
torical Society: 15, 16, 24, 30. 

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ON DUNLAP 

The best biographical material is found in many refer- 
ences to himself in his History of the American 
Theatre, and also in History of the Rise and Progress 



35° HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

of the Arts of Design in the United States; also in 

the manuscript journals at the New York Historical 

Society. 
Early American Plays (1714-1830). By Oscar Wegelin. 

Introduction by John Malone. Dunlap Society Pub- 
lication. New York, 1900; 2d ed., 1905. 
New England Magazine, February, 1894: Beginnings of 

American Dramatic Literature. By Paul Leicester 

Ford. 
Occasional Addresses. Edited by Laurence Hutton and 

William Carey. Published by the Dunlap Society. 

New York, 1890. (Pp. 51-53.) 
Washington and the Theatre. By Paul Leicester Ford. 

Published by the Dunlap Society. New York, 1899. 
History of New York City. By Martha J. Lamb. New 

York, 1850. (Vol. II, pp. 352, 353.) 
Old New York. By John W. Francis. New York, 1866. 

Pp. 66-68, and scattered notes.) 
References in The Memorial History of the City of New 

York. By James Grant Wilson. New York, 1893. 

(Vols. II, III, IV.) 
Contributions to the Early History of Perth Amboy. By 

W. A. Whitehead. New York, 1856. (Pp. 97, 126-28, 

139-43, 243, 292-94, 328, 329, 343.) 
Descriptive Pamphlet of Christ Rejected by the High 

Priests, Elders and People. Shields, Ashburn & Co., 

Norfolk. (No date.) 
History of New York City. By William L. Stone. New 

York, 1872. (Pp. 134, 151, 241-48.) 
History of the American Theatre during the Revolution 

and After. By George O. Seilhamer. Philadelphia, 

1889. (Vol. I, pp. 3, 19, 72, 73, 81, 141-43 ; Vol. II, 274- 

80.) 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 351 

VIII. CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN 

WRITINGS BY BROWN 

History of American Painting. By Samuel Isham. New 
York, 1905. Pp. 11, 17-24, 43-49, 7^-79, 186-89. 

The Columbian Magazine. Philadelphia, April, 1789. 
(Contains Brown's "The Rhapsodist") 

The Weekly Magazine of Original Essays, Fugitive Pieces 
and Interesting Intelligence. Philadelphia. Vol. I, 
1798-99. (Contains Brown's "The Man at Home" 
and "The Rights of Women.") The latter was printed 
as Alcuin: a Dialogue. New York: Swords, 1798. 
i6mo. 

Wieland or the Transformation : An American Tale. 
New York, 1798. i2mo. 

Ormond, or the Secret Witness. New York, 1798. 

Arthur Mervyn or the Memoirs of the Year 1793. Phila- 
delphia, 1799. i2mo. 

Edgar Huntley or the Memoirs of a Sleepwalker. Phila- 
delphia, 1799-1800. 2 vols. i2mo. 

Clara Howard or the Enthusiasm of Love. Philadelphia, 
1801. 

Jane Talbot London, New York, and Philadelphia, 
1801. 

The Novels of Brown were reprinted by Goodrich, Bos- 
ton, 1827, in uniform edition, 7 vols, in 6. i2mo. 

Complete edition of the Novels of Charles Brockden 
Brown. Edited and published by David McKay. 
Philadelphia, 1887. 

Carwin, the Biloquist, and other American Tales & Pieces 
by Charles Brockden Brown, Author of Wieland, 
Ormond, Arthur Mervyn, &c. In Three Volumes. 
London, 1822. i2mo. 



352 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

An Address to the Government on the Utility and Justice 
of Restrictions upon foreign Commerce. (Anon.) 
Philadelphia, 1809. 8vo. 

An Address to the Government of the United States on 
the Cession of Louisiana to the French and on the 
Late Breach of Treaty by the Spaniards, including the 
Translation of a Memorial, on the War of St. Do- 
mingo, and Cession of the Mississippi to France. 
Drawn up by a French Counsellor of State. A new 
edition, revised, corrected, and improved. (Anon.) 
Philadelphia, 1803. 

A View of the Soil and Climate of the United States of 
America with supplementary Remarks upon Florida, 
etc., by C. F. Volney. Translated, with occasional re- 
marks, by C. B. Brown. Philadelphia, 1804. 

Editor of and Contributor to : 

The Monthly Magazine and American Review, Vols. 
I— III, April, 1799, to December, 1800. New York: 
Swords. 

The American Review and Literary Journal for the 
Year, 1801. New York: Swords. 

The Literary Magazine and American Register, Vols. 
I-VIII. Philadelphia: Conrad, 1803-7. 

The American Register or General Repository of His- 
tory, Politics, and Science. Philadelphia, 1806-10. 

Manuscript letters in Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 

Manuscript letter to Jefferson, and reply, in Jefferson 
papers (Library of Congress). 

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ON BROWN 

Life of Charles Brockden Brown. By William Dunlap. 
2 vols. New York, 1815. (Together with Selections 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 353 

from the Rarest of his Printed Works, from his 
Original Letters, and from his Manuscripts Before 
Unpublished.) 

A Library of American Biography. Edited by Jared 
Sparks. New York, 1834. (Vol. I, sketch of Brown 
by W. H. Prescott.) 

Charles Brockden Brown : A Study of Early American 
Fiction. By Martin S. Vilas. Burlington, Vt., 1904. 

The National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Ameri- 
cans. Conducted by James B. Longacre and James 
Herring. New York, 1835. (Vol. Ill, from minia- 
ture by Dunlap, engraved by Forrest.) 

The Memorial History of the City of New York. By 
James Grant Wilson. New York, 1893. (Many refer- 
ences in Vols. Ill and IV.) 

A History of Philadelphia. By Scharf & Westcott, Phila- 
delphia, 1884. (Vol. Ill, p. 1981.) 

The Literary History of Philadelphia. By Ellis Paxson 
Oberholtzer. Philadelphia, 1906. (Many references.) 

The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 
Philadelphia, 1906. Vol. 30, p. 242. 

North American Review, June, 1819. (Vol. IX, p. 58-64.) 

Blackwood's Magazine, February, 1820. (Vol. VII, p. 

SS4-) 
Blackwood's Edinburgh Review, October, 1824. Vol. 

XVI, p. 421-26. (Signed "X. Y. Z.") 
Fortnightly Review, September, 1878, Vol. 30, pp. 399, 400. 









INDEX 



INDEX 

A 
"A. B.," 38 

"A Bone to Gnaw for the Democrats," 173 
"A Child Returning from School," painting, 270, 272 
A Group of Hartford Wits, 149-89 
A History of American Literature, 298, 322 
A History of New York, for Schools, 274, 349 
"A Laughable Poem," 91, 92, 329 
A Library of American Literature, 62, 321 
"A Lover of Candour," 38 
"A Poem Addressed to the Armies," 177, 340 
"A Poem on Industry," 178, 340 
"A Poem on the Happiness of America," 181, 340 
"A Poem on the Restoration of Chaos and Night," 152, 154 
"A Poem on the Rising Glory," 66, 67, 328 
"A Poem Sacred to the Memory of George Washington," 185, 

342 
"A Political Catechism," 41 
"A Pretty Story," 28, 129, 324 
"A Prophecy," 28, 30, 31, 129, 324 
"A Speech of a Standing Member," 53 
"A Sketch of the History of Yale College," 112, 338 
"A Trip to Niagara," 260, 348 
"A View of the Soil," etc., 309, 352 
"A Voyage to Boston," 69, 70, 328 
Abaellino, 347 

Adams, Charles Francis, 219, 231, 344, 345 
Adams, John, references to, 51, 83, 125, 127, 130, 138, 139, 163, 

203, 208, 220; Letters to His Wife, 21, 51, 327 
Adams, John Quincy, references to, 218, 220, 231, 344, 345; 

Memoirs of, 219, 231, 345 
Adams, Samuel, 9 
Addison, Joseph, 19, in, 114 
"Advertisement of a Coquette," 117, 119 

357 



35^ HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

"Advice to the Ladies not to Neglect the Dentist," 94 

"Advice to the Privileged Orders," 338 

"Advice to Young Authors," 91 

Aitkin, R., 28, 324 

Alcuin, 292, 351 

Aldrich, George L, 203, 204, 345 

Allen Paul, 226 

"Almanack-Maker, The," 76 

Alsop, Fanny, 183 

Alsop, Richard, 13, 150, 161, 162, 167, 169, 182, 342, 343 

"American Addison," 194, 206 

American Antiquarian Society, The, vi, 41, 89, 324, 330 

American Antiquities, The, 155, 158, 188, 337 

American Company of Actors, The, 238, 247 

American Fiction in Development, 279, 280, 281 

American Historical and Literary Curiosities, 346 

American History, early periods, v, 3, 8, 9 

"American Independence," a poem, 328 

American Lands and Letters, 136, 322 

"American Liberty," a poem, 328 

American Literature from 1765 to 1815, 4, 9, 14, 15 

American Museum, The, 53, 54, 56, 95, 321, 325, 326 

American Philosophical Society, 8, 20, 24, 25, 32, 36, 325 

American Poems (1793), 137, 166, 187, 321, 333, 338 

"American Turtles," 39 

Ames, Fisher, 13 

"An Address to the Government," etc., 309, 351 

"An Elegy on the Times," 126, 127, 335 

"An Elegy Sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Ann Graeme," 22, 323 

"An Essay on the Life of Gen. Israel Putnam," 340. 

"An Essay on the Use and Advantages of the Fine Arts," 112- 

ii4, 333 
"An Exercise Containing a Dialogue," etc., 22, 323 
"An Oration before the Connecticut Society," 341 
"An Oration Spoken at Hartford," 341 
"An Oration Which Might Have Been Delivered," 52, 324 
Anacreon, 223, 225 
Anarch, 152, 156, 157 



INDEX 359 

Anderson, Rev. Joseph, 108, 336, 343 
Andr£, Major John, 236, 258 
Andre, play, 235, 254-58, 262, 347 
Androborus, 236 
Anti- Federalists, 45, 46, 78, 81 
"Aquiline Nimblechops," 167 
Appeal to the World, 9 
"Apostrophe to Fancy," 99 
Arbuthnot's History of John Bull, 30 
"Aristocracy," an epic poem, 338, 343 
Arthur Mervyn, 291, 292, 297-300, 351 
Atlantic Monthly, The, 338 
Aurora, The, 98, 164 
Austin, Mary S., 73, 87, 331 

B 

Babcock, Elisha, 337 

Bache, Benjamin Franklin, 98, 164, 165 

Bailey, Francis, 76, 89 

"Ballads of Taxes and Tea," n 

Banks, Sir Joseph, 340 

"Barabbas and the Thieves," painting, 271 

Barlow, Joel, 143, 150, 152, 157, 161, 162, 169, 170-73,^181, 203, 

33 8 > 339 
Barrell, Joseph, 207 
Bartow, Thomas, 242, 243 
"Basket Song," 251, 252 
Basset, Frank G., 341 
"Battle of the Kegs," 39, 40, 41, 95, 324 
"Beauties of Santa Cruz," 72 
Beers, Henry A., 296 
Berkeley, Governor William, 236 
Berni, Francisco, 342 

Bibliography of the Works of Philip Freneau, 129, 327 
Bibliography of Vermont, 239 
Bidwell, Barnabas, 238 
Biennial Reports 0} the Dunlap Society, 235 
Biglow Papers, The, 136 



360 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College, 336 

Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, 326 

Bird, Dr. Seth, 185 

Bishop of Worcester, 23, 26 

Blackwood's Edinburgh Review, 316, 317, 353 

Bleecker, Anthony, 271 

Blue Beard, 260, 348 

Bonaparte, Joseph, 57 

Borden, Ann, 27 

Borden, Joseph, 27 

Borden, Madam, 27 

Bordentown, New Jersey, 27, 55, 57 

Boston, 10, 63, 69, 118, 124, 125, 126, 128, 130, 132, 133, 137, 

149, 194, 195, 197, 198, 200, 214, 236, 252 
Boston Chronicle, 115, 116, 117, 335 
Boston Gazette, n, 322 
Boston News Letter, 195 
Boston Port Bill, 126 
Bracebridge Hall, 102 

Brackenridge, Hugh Henry, 12, 65, 66, 67, 68, 72, 163, 237, 281, 282 
Bradstreet, Anne, 5 
Brattleboro, Vt., 201 

Brinton Eliot; from Yale to Yorktown, 119, 336 
"Brook of the Valley, The," 101, 102 
Brown, Charles Brockden, 193, 218, 267, 282-318, 351, 352, 

353; environment and influences upon his fiction, 282-86; 

life in New York, 288-91; as novelist in New York and 

Philadelphia, 291-305; as journalist and essayist, 306-10; 

illness and death, 314, 315; personality and influence, 316-18 
Brown, William Linn, 314 

Brown University Library, 69, 91, 132, 327, 329, 334 
Bryant, William C, 14, 15, 102, 184 
Buckingham, J. T, 201, 202, 205, 333, 345 
Burgoyne, General John, 37, 38, 137, 236 
Burr, Aaron, 65, 168 
Burrow, James, 23, 24, 25 
Bushnell, David, 39 
Bulter's Hudibras, 134, 136 






INDEX 361 



C 

Cadwallader, General Thomas, 218 

"Calamus," 38, 52, 325 

Caleb Williams, 282, 283, 297 

"Calumniator," 38 

"Calvary," painting, 272 

"Camp Ballad," 38 

Campbell, Hollis A., 341 

Canary Islands, 93 

" Captain Freneau," 76, 94 

Carey, William, 272, 349 

Carlisle, David, Jr., 200, 344 

Carwin, the Biloquist, 295, 316, 351 

" Causes of American Discontents," 10 

"Cautious," 38, 325 

Chapter Sketches, D. A. R., 174, 341 

Charles Brockden Brown: A Study, 353 

Charlestown, N. H., 196, 197, 200 

Charlotte Temple, 281 

"Charms of Fancy, The," 169, 182, 183, 184 

Chauncy, Charles, 10 

"Chester," hymn, 12 

Chew, Benjamin, 21 

Childs and Swaine, 77, 80 

" Christ Bearing the Cross," painting, 269 

" Christ Rejected," painting, 268, 269 

Chusetown, Conn., 178 

Cibber, Colley, 263 

Clapp, Colonel W. W., 198, 216, 345 

Clara Howard, 303, 351 

"Climenole," 218 

Clinton, Governor George, 48, 100, 271 

Clinton, Sir Henry, 73 

Club for Colonial Reprints, 69, 327 

Cobbett, William, 164, 173 

Cogswell, Dr. Mason, 150, 161, 182, 186, 342 

Cole, Thomas, 272 

Coleridge, Samuel T., 72 



362 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

College of Philadelphia, 20, 21, 22, 23, 149 

"Columbia," an ode, 12 

Common Sense, 1 29 

Congreve, William, 19 

Connecticut Courant, 128, 129, 165, 167, 335 

Connecticut Gazette, no 

Connecticut Historical Society, vi, 142, 143, 151, 161, 165, 182, 

187, 33 6 > 337> 339, 342 
Connecticut Mirror, 182 
"Conquest of Canaan," 173, 180 
"Conspiracy of Kings," 170, 338 
Continental Congress, 21, 27, 28, 125 
Continental Loan Office, 31 

Contributions to Early History 0} Perth Amboy, 243, 350 
Cooke, George Fred, 267 

Cooper, J. Fenimore, 14, 15, 261, 301, 302, 318 
Cooper, T. Apthorp, 267 
Copley, John Singleton, 57, 272 
Cornelia, 236 
Cornwallis, Lord, 73 
Cowper, William, 104, 215 
Crafts Tavern, 202 
"Crispin O'Connor," 94 

Critical Observations on the Columbiad, 172, 339 
"Cupid Sleeping," painting, 271 
Curiosities of Literature, 205, 346 
Cushing, Thomas, 127 
Cyclopaedia of American Literature, 75, 321 

D 

Darby's Return, 248, 347 

Darley, Mrs., 266, 271 

DAuberteul, 160 

Davis, M. L., 90 

Deane, Silas, 128 

"Death on the Pale Horse," painting, 270 

De Bellare Superbos, 338 

Decatur, Captain Stephen, 98 



INDEX 363 

Declaration of Independence, 12, 19, 27, 216 

Defoe, Daniel, 299 

Delancey, Edward F., 332 

Delaplaine's Repository of Distinguished Americans, 51, 326 

Democracy, pamphlet, 167 

Democratiad, The, 164, 165 

Dennie, Joseph, 193-231, 343, 344, 345; early life and college, 
194-96; as lawyer and lay reader, 196-99; as editor of 
Farmer's Museum, 200-02; The Portfolio, 219-27; Lay 
Sermons, 228-39 

Derby, Conn., 174, 175 

Descriptive Pamphlet of Christ Rejected, 350 

"Design of the Preacher," 197 

"Destruction of Babylon," 125 

Detroit, Mich., 143 

Dexter, Franklin B., 336 

Dialogues of the Dead, 5 2 

"Dick Hairbrain," 122, 124, 334 

Dickens, Ashbury, 214 

Dickinson, John, 10, 11, 48, 322 

Discours en vers, 177 

Dogood Papers, 7 

"Dr. Yorick," 228 

Draper, Lyman C, 333 

Drone Club, 267 

Duche, Jacob, 21 

Duke of Devonshire, 236 

Dunciad, The, 153 

Dunlap Exhibition, 272 

Dunlap, John Read, 253 

Dunlap, Samuel, 242 

Dunlap Society, 235, 239, 247, 256, 262, 346, 347, 350 

Dunlap, William, 14, 235-75, 283, 288, 292, 293, 312, 346-50; 
early influences and first efforts at art, 242-46; career as 
playwright and theater manager, 247-63, 265; Andre, 254- 
58; histories of theater, art, and New York, 263-65, 266-68, 
272; his work summarized, 274, 275; his Journals quoted 
183, 252-56, 268, 269, 273, 290, 293; bibliography, 346-50 



364 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Dwight, Theodore, 14, 150, 161, 166, 167, 168, 181, 182, 332, 

34i, 342 
Dwight, Timothy, 9, 12, 13, 112, 115, 118, 137, 150, 168, 169, 

172, 173, 174, 180, 181, 205-07, 254 



Early American Plays, 235, 248, 259, 262, 346, 350 

Echo, The, 161-68, 182, 301 

Edgar Huntley, 293, 301, 303, 351 

Edwards, Jonathan, 5 

"Eglantine," 222 

Elizabethan Dramatists, 149 

Ella; a Norwegian Tale, 349 

"Ella and Birtha," 77 

Elliot, Andrew, 244 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 15, 102 

Eminent Philadelphians, 287 

Emmons, Nathaniel, no 

"Epistle to Col. Humphreys," 137 

Essays on the Constitution 0} the United States, 322 

Etting, Frank M., 314 

Everest, Charles W., 186, 335 

Ewald, Captain, 55 

Ewing, Samuel, 218 

Extracts from Democracy, 167 



Fairfield, Conn., 180, 181 

False Shame, or, the American Orphan, 347 

" Farmer Dobbin's Complaint," 94 

Farmer, James Eugene, 119 

Farmer's Weekly Museum, 200, 202, 209, 213, 214, 215, 344 

" Father Abraham," 6 

"Father Bumbo's Pilgrimage," 67, 327 

"Federalism Triumphant in the Steady Habits," etc., 138, 336 

Federalists, The, 45, 46, 61, 81, 82, 151, 158, 163, 164, 165, 167, 

168, 204, 216 
Fennell, James, 266, 271 






INDEX 365 

Fenno, John, 77, 81, 83, 84, 85, 214 

Fessenden, F. T. G., 202 

Flatbush, L. I., 68, 184 

Fontaineville Abbey, 348 

Ford, Paul Leicester, 6, 22, 34, 178, 237, 322, 323, 326, 350 

Ford, Worthington C, 21, 175, 323 

Forman, Eleanor, 77 

Forman, Dr. Samuel E., 82, 84, 331 

Forman, Major Samuel, 77, 333 

Fortnightly Review, 353 

Four Dissertations, etc., 23, 324 

"Fractura Minimi Digiti," 274 

Francis, Dr. John, 100, 274, 350 

Francis Hopkinson and James Lyon, 26, 327 

Franklin, Benjamin, 5-8, 20, 23, 24, 25, 31, 32, 35 , 46, 57, 164, 
193, 230, 236, 284, 322 

Freeman's Journal, 47, 50, 76, 94, 330 

Freneau, Agnes Watson, 64 

Freneau, Mary, 65 

Freneau, Pierre, the elder, 63; the younger, 65, 92 

Freneau, Philip, 9, 12, 14, 61-104, 3 2 7~3 2 ; early life and verses, 
61-67; as teacher, 68, 69; political satires, 69-75; as mer- 
chant, 76, 77, 92, 94; lyrics of nature and customs, 76, 83, 
94; marriage, 77; editor and translator in Philadelphia, 
78-85, 89, 90; poems of Indian life, 95-97; personality and 
later years, 99-102; Miscellaneous Works, 91, 93, 97, 329; 
Poems (1786), 75, 76, 93, 97, 329; Poems (1795), 63, 65, 70, 
7 2 , 75. 7 6 , 8 9, 9 1 , 94, 97, 99, k»i 3 2 95 Poems (1815), 87, 
93, 98, 99, 102, 103, 329; bibliography, 327-32 

Fresneau, Andrew, 63 

Friendly Club of Hartford, 150; of New York, 267, 290 

"From Fond Frederic to Fanny False Fair," 201 

Fulton, Robert, 171 



Gaine, Hugh, references to, 37, 73; Journals of, 22, 326, 332 

Garrick, David, 236 

Gazette of the United States, 77, 81, 83, 84, 85, 86, 174, 214 



366 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

"General Gage's Confession," 328 

"General Gage's Proclamation," 69, 128, 129 

"General Gage's Soliloquy," 70, 328 

"Genius of America, The," 137, 156 

Giles, W. B., 82 

Godfrey, Thomas, 236 

Godwin, William, 282, 297 

Goodrich, Samuel G., 143, 144, 145, 151, 162, 335 

Granger, Gideon, 171, 172 

Gray, Thomas, 103, 104 

Green, Bartholomew, Jr., 195 

Greene, General Nathanael, 156, 174 

"Greenfield Hill," 173 

Greenleaf, Thomas, 89, 90 

Griswold, Rufus, 205, 346 

Guillotina for 1797, 337 

Guillotina, The, 165, 167, 337 

H 

"Hail Columbia," 15, 57 

Hale, Nathan, 119 

Hall, Harrison, 344 

Hall, John E., 194, 197, 228, 344, 345 

Hall, Sarah E., 218 

Hallam, Lewis, 238, 250, 252 

Hamilton, Alexander, 13, 81, 83, 84, 139, 159, 309, 323 

Hamilton, Andrew, 20 

Hamilton, John C, 159, 323 

Hancock, Governor John, 10, 127, 163 

"Happiness of America," 181 

"Harriet Simper," 123, 124, 334 

Hart, Albert Bushnell, 323 

Hart, Charles Henry, 346 

Hartford, Conn., 132, 138, 150, 183, 185, 252, 253 

"Hartford Wits," 137, 149-89, 301 

Hartleburg Castle, 26 

Harvard College, 97, in, 149, 194, 195 

"Hasty Pudding," 170, 338 



INDIA' 367 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 15, 318 

"Hearts of Oak," 11 

"Helvetic Liberty," 251 

Henkels, Stan V., 271 

Henry, Mr. and Mrs. John, 247, 265 

Henry, Patrick, 10, 13 

Herrick, Robert, 44 

Herring, James, 321, 326, 353 

Hildeburne, Charles R., 27, 41, 326, 33a 

Historic Houses of New Jersey, 326, 332 

Historical Magazine, The, 128, 136 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania, vi, 7, 22, 26, 56, 67, 82, 91, 

165, 201, 288, 312, 326, 332, 352 
History of American Painting, 264, 270, 350 
History of American Literature, 15 
History of Car sol, 314 

History of Journalism in the United States, 77, ^t,^, 345 
History of New Netherlands, 274, 349 
History of the American Theatre, 241, 242, 247, 248, 250, 252, 

255, 261, 263, 349 
History of the City of New York, 248 
History of New York City, 350 
History of the College of New Jersey, 66, 332 
History of the Hartford Convention, 341 
History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design, 243, 244, 

245. 26 4, 349 

Hodgkinson, actor (Meadowcraf t) , 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254 

Hogan, Edmund, 34, 326 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 103 

"Honorius," 130, 131, 132 

Hopkins, Joseph, 158 

Hopkins, Dr. Lemuel, 142, 150, 152, 159, 164, 165, 166, 1S5, 1S6, 
187, 189, 337, 343 

Hopkins Medical Society, 185 

Hopkins, Stephen, 9 

Hopkinson, Francis, 12, 13, 19-58, 70, 95, 129, 323-27; inheri- 
tance and youth, 19-21; friendship with Franklin, 24-26; 
friendship with Jefferson, 34-37, 42; " A Pretty Story/' 29-31; 



368 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

"Battle of the Kegs," 39-41; Seven Songs, 41-43; The New 
Roof, 47-49; writings on education, etc., 52, 53, 54; per- 
sonality and elegies, 51, 52, 56-58; bibliography, 323-27 

Hopkinson, Joseph, 57, 218 

Hopkinson, Mrs. Joseph, 223 

Hopkinson, Mrs. Mary, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25 

Hopkinson, Mrs. Oliver, 26, 33, 43, 49, 50, 224, 325 

Hopkinson, Thomas, 20, 23 

"House of Night, The," 72, 73 

Howe, Joseph, 118 

Hubbard, Leverett, 137 

Hubbard, Sarah, 137 

Hudibras, 134, 136 

Hudson, Frederic, 77, 5 33^ 345 

Hull, Captain Isaac, 98 

Humphreys, David, life and writings, 174-81, 339, 340; refer- 
ences to, 13, 119, 150, 152, 156, 157, 160, 169, 266 

Humphreysville, Conn., 179 

Hunt, Samuel, 203 

Hunter, Mrs. Ann, 95, 97 

Hunter, Governor Robert, 236 

"Hunting-Call," 44 

Hutchinton, Governor, Thomas, 12 

Hutton, Laurence, 272, 350 

"Hypocrite's Hope, The," 187 

I 

Illustrated Ballad History of the American Revolution, 321 

"II Penseroso," 22, 323 

"Impeachment and Trial of Francis Hopkinson," 34 

Independence Hall, 21, 54 

Independent Gazeteer, 47 

"Indian Burying- Ground, The," 96 

Indian Character, 96, 97, 302 

Indian poems by Freneau, 95-97 

Initial Studies in American Letters, 296 

"Interment of Saul," 195 

Irving, Washington, 14, 15, 102, 318 



INDEX 369 

"Isabelle Sprightly," 117 

Isham, Samuel, 264, 270, 271, 350 

Issues of the Press of Pennsylvania, 41, 332 

J 

"Jack Dapperwit," 115 

Jackson, Paul, 21 

Jacobinical leaders and plans, 163, 164, 165, 221 

Jane Talbot, 303, 153 

Jefferson, Thomas, MS. letters of and to, 34, 35, 36, 44, 78, 305, 
3 o6 > 3 2 5> 35 2 ; references to, 13, 34, 43, 44, 65, 77, 78, 79, 80, 
81, 83, 87, 88, 167, 168, 174, 175, 179, 216, 305, 306, 307, 

3°9» 3 2 5 
Jersey Chronicle, 89, 331 
Jersey men in the Revolution, 71 
Jessica, 314 

"Joel Barlow to His Fellow Citizens," 339 
" John Burgoyne's Proclamation," 37 
John St. Theater, 247, 251, 274 
Johns Hopkins University Studies, 82, 331 
Johnson, William, 287 
Johnstone, Henry P., 341 



Kalorama, 172 

Kearny, James, 64 

Kettell, Samuel, 187, 321, 335 

"King George The Third's Soliloquy," 72 

"King George's Speech to Lord North," 72 

Kingsley, William I., 112, 338 

"Knickerbocker Group," 149 

Knickerbocker History of New York, 102, 318 

Koopman, Harry Lyman, 328 



"Lake Poets, The," 149 
Lamb, Martha J., 248, 350 
"L' Allegro," 22, 323 



37° HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

" L' Amoroso," 314 

Latta, James, 21 

Law, Jonathan, 172, 173 

Lay Preacher, The, 195, 197, 210, 343, 344 

Lay Sermons, 195, 197 

Le Jugement de Salomon, 260 

Leacock, John, 237 

Leadbeater, Agnes Freneau, 100 

Leatherstocking, 261 

Lee, Richard Henry, 13 

Lenox Library, vi, 201, 328, 334, 338 

Letter to Lord Howe, 37 

Letter to the Hon. W. R. Spencer, 224 

Letter Written by a Foreigner, 29 

Letters by Robert Slender, 91, 329, 330 

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, 10, 322 

Letters from Silesia, 218 

Letters from the Hon. David Humphreys, 340 

Letters by Cato to the People of Pennsylvania, 30 

Liberty Songs, 1 1 

Library Company of Philadelphia, vi, 8, 330 

Library of American Biography, A, 285, 307, 311, 353 

Library of Congress, 34, 69, 78, 83, 112, 132, 165, 316, 327, 328, 

33 2 ? 333> 337> 339 
Life and Letters of Joel Barlow, 339 

Life of Charles Brockden Brown, 283, 285, 286, 312, 314, 349, 352 
Linn, Elizabeth, 311 
Linn, John Blair, 218, 311 
"Lines on Leaving Philadelphia," 223 

List of Books Printed in Connecticut, from IJOQ to 1800, 336, 338 
Litchfield, Conn., 166, 185, 187 
Literary History of Philadelphia, 326, 332 
Literary History of the American Revolution, 15, no, 114, 322, 

3 2 7> 333 
Livingston, Henry Brockholst, 167 
Livingstone, William, 5 
London Morning Herald, 76 
Longacre, James B., 321, 326, 353 



INDEX 371 



Longfellow, Henry W., 102 
Longworth, David, 93, 98 
Lord Leicester, 249, 250, 348 
Lossing, Benson J., 28, 335 
Lovers' Vows, 348 
" Lucy Gray," 221 



M 



Maclean, John, 66, 332, 333 

MacMaster, John Bach, 52, 322 

Madison, James, Papers of, 65, 68, 90, 99, 332; references to, 78 

81, 89, 98 
Magaw, Samuel, 21 

Magazine of American History, 333, 346 
Malone, John, 262, 346 
"Mark Twain," 151 
Marmion, 75 

Marquis de Chastelleux, 127, 136 
Marshall, John, 213 
Mason, Jeremiah, 203, 207, 344 
Massachusetts Historical Society, vi, 78, 112, 177, 183, 207, 211 

3 2 8, 344 
Matthews, J. Brander, 256 
"May to April," 76 

May Day; or, New York in an Uproar, 239 
Mayhew, Rev. Jonathan, 10 
McFingal, or M'Fingal, 127-36, 334, 335 
McKay, David, 316, 351 
McKee, Thomas J., 239, 247, 347 
Meigs, Colonel Return J., 174 

Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore, 224, 345 
Memoirs of George Fred Cooke, 349 
Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, 219, 231, 345 
Memoirs of Stephen Calvert, 314 
Memoirs of the Administration of Washington and John Adams, 

142 
Memorial History of Hartford County, 135, 136, 182, 336, 339, 

342, 343 



372 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Menut, A., 90 

Mercenary Match, The, 238 

"Mercutio," 225 

Michaux, Dr. Pierre, 274 

Middletown, Conn., 183 

Mills, W. Jay, 326, 332 

Milton, John, 111, 180 

Mirabeau, 159; "Mirabeau," 163 

Miscellaneous Essays and Occasional Writings, 28, 30, 31, 36, 41, 

42, 49, 52, 54, 55, 56, 324 
Miscellaneous Works of David Humphreys, 176, 179, 180, 339 
Miscellaneous Works of Philip Freneau, 91, 92, 329 
"Miserable Life of a Pedagogue, The," 68, 69 
Mitchell, Donald G., 136, 322 
Modern Chivalry, 282 

Modern Learning Exemplified by, etc., 54, 325 
Modest Soldier, or Love in New York, 247 
"Moggy Lawder," 40 
Molina's History of Chili, 183, 342 
Monmouth, N. J., 64, 65, 73, 81, 87, 88, 89, 92, 100 
Mont Pleasant, 64 
Moore, Bishop Channing, 271 
Moore, Frank, 11, 321, 322 
Moore, Thomas, references to, 57, 222, 223, 224, 225; writings 

of, 224, 344, 345 
Morewood, Mr., 207 
Morris, George P., 271, 272 
Morris, Gouverneur, 50, 218 
Morris, Lewis R., 211, 212 
Morris, Robert, 49, 164 
Morton, Sarah Wentworth, 280 
Mount Vernon, 175, 176; ode, 176 
"My Generous Heart Disdains," 44 

N 

Narrative of a Journey down the Ohio, 77, 333 

Nassau Hall, 65, 149 

National Academy of Design, 270, 271 






INDEX 373 

National Gazette, 45, 81, 82, 83, 85, 90, 94, 214, 331 

New and Original Lay Sermons, 227, 344 

New England Galaxy, 198, 346 

New England Magazine, 350 

New England Primer, 109 

New Haven Gazette, 151, 153, 154, 337 

New Jersey Gazette, 39 

New Roof, The, 47, 48, 49, 50, 324 

"New Travels of M. Abbe Robin," 90 

New York City, 63, 64, 77, 78, 79, 80, 90, 94, 100, 101, 129, 143, 

222, 226, 238, 239, 244, 248, 250, 287, 291, 308, 315 
New York Daily Advertiser, 77 
New York Daily Gazette, 246 
New York Historical Society, vi, 26, 128, 165, 182, 245, 252, 268, 

272, 328 
New York Journal, 90 
New York Mercury, 22, 326 
New York Mirror, 332 
New York Spectator, 71, 332 
Nicholson, John, 164 
Niles, Nathaniel, 12 
Norfolk, 266, 268, 269, 308 
North American Review, 296, 353 
North, Lord, 12, 23, 26, 29 



Oakwood Press, The, 41 

Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson, 326, 332, 345, 353 

"Ode to Fancy," 99 

"Ode to Liberty," 98 

"Ode to Sleep," 118, 119 

" Of Precipitation," 196 

Ogden, Aaron, 65 

Old New York, 274, 350 

"Oliver Oldschool," 215, 344 

" On a Patient Killed by a Cancer Quack," 187 

" On Annual White-Washings," 56, 325 

"On the Pleasures of Study," 229 



374 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

"On the Sleep of Plants," 83 

" One of the People," 38 

Origin of McFingal, 69, 128, 129, 136, 336 

Ormond, or, the Secret Witness, 297, 351 

Orwell, Vermont, 270 

Ossian, 132, 183 

Otis, James, 10, 127 

"Our Saviour and Mary Magdalene," painting, 271 

Oxford Movement, 149 



Paine, Thomas, 129 

Paltsits, Victor Hugo, 61, 69, 77, 129, 327, 328, 331 

Pamphlets on the Constitution of the United States, 323 

Park, Dr. E. A., no 

Park Theater, 251, 258 

Parsons, Theophilus, 220, 221 

"Pasquin Petronius," 162, 337 

Pattee, Fred L., 61, 64, 88, 330 

Patterson, William, 48 

Paulding, J. K., 318 

Penelopen, 65 

Pennsylvania Gazette, 53 

Pennsylvania Ledger, 39 

Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 27, 28, 55, 

3*5> 3 26 > 353 
Pennsylvania Magazine or American Monthly Museum, 324 
Pennsylvania Packet, 38, 41, 48, 76, 97, 324, 325, 329 
Pennsylvania State Trials, 34, 326 
Pequot Library, 170, 173, 339 
Perth Amboy, 242, 243, 267, 292, 350 
"Peter Grievous," 28, 324 
" Peter Parley," 143, 144 
"Peter Pindar of America," 94 
" Peter Porcupine," 164 
"Peter Quince," 203 
Peters, Richard, 20 
Philadelphia, City of, 8, 22, 24, 27, 35, 36, 52, 53, 56, 57, 76, 78, 






INDEX 375 

79, 81, 83, 84, 88, 94, 98, 129, 194, 205, 212, 214, 215, 222, 
224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 266, 271, 284, 291, 292, 298, 309, 
315, 316, 317, 326, 332, 345, 353 
Philadelphia Jockey Club, 164, 165 
Philadelphia Souvenir, The, 194, 198, 228, 345 
" Philadelphiensis," 47 

Philip Freneau, The Huguenot Poet-Patriot, 332 
Philip Freneau, The Poet 0} the Revolution, 73, 87, 88, 331 
Pickering, Timothy, 78, 177, 211, 212, 213; Papers, 78, 79, 211, 

2I 3> 332. 344 
" Pilot of Hatteras, The," 83, 94 
Pintard, John, 77, 78 
Piscatawa, 244 
Poe, Edgar Allen, 72, 318 
"Poem Addressed to the Armies," 176, 177 
"Poetical Address to Franklin," 286 

"Political Activities of Philip Freneau, The," 82, 84, 331 
"Political Greenhouse, The," 166, 337 
Ponteach, 236 
"Poor Richard," 6 

Pope, Alexander, 19, 103, 114, 153, 199 
"Porcupine Press," 162 
Porter, General P. B., 271 
Potter, Dr. Jared, 185 
Post, Dr. Wright, 274 
"Powers of Genius," 311 
Pre-Raphaelites, 149 

Prescott, William H., Sketch of Brown, 285, 307, 311, 353 
Prime, Dr. Benjamin, 5, 9 
Princess Anne Academy, 68 
Progress 0} Dulness, 54, 115, 119, 120-24, ^^^ 
Proposals Relating to the Education, etc., 7, 322 
Proud, Robert, 285 
Provincial Council of New Jersey, 27 
Putnam, General Israel, 174, 175, 340 

Q 

Quincy, Edmund, 217, 345 
Quincy, Josiah, 217, 218, 266, 345 



376 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

R 

Radcliffe, Ann, 282 

Raritan River, 244 

Raynal, Abbe, 159, 160 

Reciprocal Advantages 0} a Perpetual Union, 23 

Recollections of a Lifetime, 144, 145, 151, 162 

Reeve, Judge Tappan, 151 

Repository of the Lives, etc., 51 

Ribbemont, or the Feudal Baron, 260, 347 

"Richard and Kenneth," painting, 271 

Riggs, Luther G., 151, 337 

Rights of the Colonies, 9 

Riley, Isaac, 162, 337 

Rinaldo Rinaldini, 260, 261, 348 

Rip Van Winkle, 318 

"Rise and Progress of the Differences," 10 

Rivington, James, 37, 73 

"Robert Slender," 91, 92 

Robertson, William, 159, 160 

Rogers, Major Robert, 236 

Rolliad, The, 153 

Root, Mary P., 341 

Rowson, Susanna, 281 

Royal West India Company, 63 

Runic Poetry, 183, 342 



Salmagundi Papers, 102, 318 

Sanderson, John, 326 

Santa Cruz, 71 

Sarah Riggs Humphreys Chapter, 174 

Sargent, John, M.P., 23 

Sargent, Margaret, 242 

Scandella, Dr. Joseph, 291 

"Scene from Cooper's 'The Spy,'" painting, 271, 272 

Scharf and Westcott's History of Philadelphia, 345, 353 

"Science," a poem, 22, 324 

Scott, John Morin, 63 



INDEX 377 

Scott, Sir Walter, 75 

Seilhamer, George O,. 263, 264, 350 

Seven Songs for the Harpsichord and Forte Piano, 42, 43, 44, 324 

Seymour, Past and Present, 174, 179, 341 

Sharpe, William C, 341 

Shay's Rebellion, 153, 155, 176 

Shelley, Percy B., 297 

Shelty's Travels, 249 

Shinn, Mrs. Florence Scovel, 24, 38, 325 

"Shop of Colon and Spondee," 201, 203, 218 

Sigourney, Mrs. Lydia Huntley, 140, 141 

"Simon Spunkey," 202 

Simpson, Henry, 287 

"Six Hours Lodging with Death," 72 

Sketch Book, The, 102 

Sketch of [Joseph] Dennie, 198, 345 

Sketches of a History of the Carrils and Ormes, 314 

Smith, Dr. Elihu, 161, 166, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 321 

Smith, Rev. William, 22, 30, 55 

Smith, Zephaniah, 151 

Society of the Cincinnati, 157 

Some Account of the Capture of the Ship Aurora, 73, 330 

Songs and Ballads of the Revolution, 11, 322 

Sonneck, O. G., 26, 327 

Southern Literary Messenger, 66 

Southey, Robert, 180 

Southmayd, William, 109 

Southport, Conn., 170, 339 

Sparks, Jared, 285 

Specimens of American Poetry, 184, 187, 201, 321, 335 

"Star-Spangled Banner, The," 16 

Stedman, Edmund Clarence, 62, 321 

Sterne, Lawrence, 229 

Stone, William L., 350 

Story, Isaac, 203 

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 151 

Swanwick, John, 53 

Swift, Jonathan, 19, 199, 229 



378 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

T 
"T. L.," 84, 85 
Tayloe, John, 172 
Taylor, George, Jr., 78 
Tennent, Rev. William, 65 
Thacher, James, 39, 185, 327, 343 
"Thanatopsis," 102 
The Adulateur, 237 
The Author, 66, 67 
The Africans, 260, 348 
The Alger ine Captive, 239, 281 
"The Almanack-Maker," 76 
"The American Hero," 12 
The American Mercury, 337 
The American Nation, 323 
The American Register, 313, 352 
The American Review and Literary Journal, 296, 352 
The American Village, 69, 327 
The Anarchiad, 151-60, 176, 188, 337 
The Archers, 251, 252, 253, 347 
The Battle of Brooklyn, 237 
The Battle of Bunker's Hill, 12, 237 
The Battle of New Orleans, 260 
The Blind Boy, 260, 348 
The Blockheads, 236 

The Blockheads, or Fortunate Contractor, 238 
"The British Prison-Ship," 73, 74, 328 
"The British Spy," 220 
"The Brook of the Valley," 101, 102 
"The Canal," 171, 339 

The Character of Thomas Jefferson as Exhibited, etc., 332, 342 
"The Charms of Fancy," 169, 342 
"The Columbiad," 169, 170, 339 
The Columbian Magazine, 57, 287, 323, 326, 351 
The Columbian Songster, 95 

The Contrast, 96, 201, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 246 
"The Correspondent," 117 
"The Country Printer," 83 






INDEX 379 

"The Death-Song of a Cherokee Indian," 95, 331 

" The Decadents," 149 

The Democratiad, 164, 165, 337, 343 

"The Deserted Farm-House," 76 

"The Destruction of Babylon," 125 

The Dunciad, 153 

"The Dying Elm," 72 

The Echo, 161-68, 182, 301, 337 

"The Enchanted Lake," etc., 342 

"The Farrago," 200, 201 

The Fatal Deception, 249 

The Father of an Only Child, 347 

The Father; or, American Shandyism, 235, 247, 259, 346, 347 

"The Genius of America," 137 

The Georgia Spec, 239 

The Ghost, 134 

The Glory of Columbia, 258, 260, 348 

The Gold Bug, 318 

The Group, 12, 237 

The Guillotina, 165, 167, 343 

"The Hall of Fantasy," 318 

"The Hermit," 76, 202 

"The Historic Muse," painting, 270, 272 

"The House of Night," 72 

"The Hypocrite's Hope," 187 

"The Indian Burying-Ground," 96 

"The Indian Student," 76, 96 

The Inquisitor, 281 

The Italian Father, 348 

"The Jug of Rum," 8 5 

"The Last Will and Testament," etc., 74 

"The Last Words," etc., 328 

The Lay Preacher, 195, 210, 343, 344 

The Literary History of the American Revolution, see Literary 

History 
The Literary Magazine and American Register, 179, 308, 310, 352 
"The Man at Home," 292, 351 
"The Meddler," 115, 116, 202 



380 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

The Memorial History 0} the City of New York, 332, 350, 353 

"The Midnight Consultations," 69, 70 

"The Miserable Life of a Pedagogue," 68, 69 

"The Monk," 282 

"The Monkey Fable," 180 

The Monmouth Inquirer, 331 

The Monthly Magazine and American Review, 308, 352 

The Motley Assembly, 237 

The Mysteries of Udolpho, 282 

The National Portrait Gallery, 321, 326, 353 

The New Roof, 47, 48, 49, 50, 324 

"The Old Farm and the New Farm," 28, 324 

"The Owl and the Sparrow," 126 

"The Parting Glass," 101 

The Pioneers, 301 

The Poets of Connecticut, 186, 335, 342 

The Political Writings of Joel Barlow, 339 

The Portfolio, 205, 209, 214, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 225, 226, 

227, 310, 344 
"The Power of Sympathy," 280, 282 
The Prince of Parthia, 236 
The Prophecy, 74 
"The Prospect of Peace," 338 
"TheRhapsodist," 287 
"The Rights of Man," 95 
"The Rights of Women," 292, 351 
The Rising Glory of America, 65 
The Ruins of Innocence, 282 
"The Schemer," 115, 116 
The Soldier of Seventy-Six, 260 
The Spectator, 158 

The Spirit of the Farmer's Museum, 202, 344 
The Suspected Daughter, 236 
The Tablet, 200, 201, 202, 214, 344 
"The Triumph of Democracy," 167, 341 
"The Veil Removed," 341 
"The Vision of Columbus," 170, 338 
"The Vision of Night," 72 



INDEX 381 

The Voice of Nature, 259, 260 

The Washington-Duche Letters, 21, 327 

The Weekly Magazine, 292, 293, 308, 351 

The Widow of Malabar, 339 

"The Wild Honeysuckle," 76 

The Yankey in England, 179, 341 

The Yankey in London, 239 

Thirty Years Ago, 349 

Thomas, Alexander, 207 

Thomas, Isaiah, 200, 204, 280 

Thoreau, Henry David, 149 

Three Men of Letters, 170, 339 

Time-Piece and Literary Companion, 90, 331 

"Timothy Tickler," 164 

Tisdale, Elkanah, 162 

"To a Catydid," 103 

"To an Insect," 103 

"To a Waterfowl," 184 

"To a Young Lady Who Requested," etc., 126 

"To Julia," 222 

"To the Americans of the United States," 88 

"To the Memory of the Brave Americans," etc., 74 

"To the Freemen of Connecticut," 183, 342 

Todd, Charles Burr, 170, 339 

"Tom Brainless," 120, 121, 124, 334 

Town and City of Waterbury, Conn., 108, 336, 343 

Tracey, Uriah, 151 

" Transcendentalists, The," 149 

Translation of the Psalms of David, 26 

Trent, W. P., 298, 322 

Trumble, John, 107, 108, 109, no, in 

Trumbull, Benoni, 107 

Trumbull, James Hammond, 69, 128, 129, 135, 136, 182, 336 

Trumbull, John, artist, 107, 145, 264, 272 

Trumbull, John, writer, 9, 12, 13, 14, 54, 70, 107-45, 150, 152, 

158, 161, 166, 168, 181, 182, 203; boyhood and college days, 

109-15; as essayist, 115-17; Progress of Dulness, 119-24; 

M'Fingal, 127-36; judge, 136; last years and tributes, 

138-43; bibliography, 333-36 



382 HERALDS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE 

Trumbull, Governor Jonathan, 107, 130, 138, 157 

Tuesday Club, 217 

Twitchell, Rev. Joseph, 151 

"Two is Better than One," 228 

Tyler, Moses Coit, 15, no, 119, 170, 322, 339 

Tyler, Royall, 96, 198, 201, 202, 238, 239, 240, 241, 246, 281, 282 

Tyler, Thomas P., 239 

U 
" Ulalume," 72 
United States Magazine, 72, 331 



Valedictory Address before the Cincinnati, 340 

Vaughan, Henry, 44 

Vaux, George, 315 

Verplanck, G. C, 272 

"Verses to a Shearwater," 184, 342 

Victoria, 281 

Victorian Novelists, 149 

Vilas, Martin S., 316, 353 

Volney, C. F., 352 

Vose, Royal, 203 

Vreeland, Helen Kearny, 73, 331 

W 

Walpole, N. H, 200, 201, 208, 228 

"Walpole as It Was and as It Is," 203, 204, 345 

War of 1812, 9, 13, 98, 181, 260 

Warner, Charles Dudley, 151 

Warren, Caroline, 282 

Warren, Mercy, 12, 237 

Washington and the Theatre, 248, 350 

Washington, George, references to, 13, 21, ^, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 

81, 87, 103, 156, 160, 165, 174, 182, 185, 240, 245, 248, 249, 

258, 286, 323, 341 
"Washington's March," 258 
Waterbury, Conn., 107, 138, 185 
Watkinson Library, 112, 132, 333, 334 



INDEX 3 8 3 

Watts, Isaac, 109 

Webster, Noah, 139 

Wegelin, Oscar, 235, 248, 259, 262, 346 

West, Benjamin, 26, 245, 246, 264, 283 

West, Samuel, 194 

Westbury, Conn., 107, 108 

Whitehead, William A., 243, 350 

Whitehill, Robert, 48 

Whittier, John G., 102 

Wieland, or the Transformation, 283, 294-97, 305, 351 

Wigglesworth, Michael, 5 

Wignell, Thomas, 238, 239, 240, 248, 249 

Wilkinson, William, 287 

Williams, William, 157, 158, 245 

Williamson, Hugh, 21 

Wilson, James, 48 

Wilson, James Grant, 332, 350, 353 

Wilson, Woodrow, 323 

"Wimble War," 158 

"With Jemmy on the Sea," 44, 95, 

Wolcott, Oliver, Jr., 142, 143, 174, 187, 203, 336, 339 

Woodbridge, Dudley Bradstreet, 139, 140 

Woodbridge, Mrs. William, 140, 143 

Woolman, John, 5 

Woolsey, Elizabeth, 246 

Wordsworth, William, 221, 222 

"Wrongheads," 157 

X 
"X. Y. Z.," 316, 317, 353 

Y 

"Yale and Her Honor Roll in the American Revolution," 341 
Yale College and University, no, in, 112, 117, 118, 119, 124, 

150, 181, 185 
Yankee Chronology, 260, 348 
"Yankee Doodle," 15 



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